EGENirKAri 


Faust 


tihv<xvy  of  t:he  thtohcj^ml  ^tminavy 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 
PRESENTED  BY 

Rufus  E.  LeFevre 


(       MAY  21  1952 


REGENERATPgWii^ 


S.  D.  FAUST,  A.M.,  D.D. 

Professor  in  Union  Biblical  Seminary 


Dayton,  Ohio 

United  Brethren  Publishing  House 

1901 


sS 


CopyrigM  1902,  by  W.  R.  Funk,  Agent 
All  rights  reserved 


INTRODUCTORY, 


Under  a  most  beautiful  figure,  the  first  repre- 
sentative of  our  race,  fresh  from  the  Creator's 
hands,  is  said  to  have  been  placed  in  a  garden. 
He  was  to  keep  it;  that  is,  to  direct  and  enlarge 
its  powers  of  production.  Everything  in  it  he 
was  to  use  for  his  own  subsistence  and  advance- 
ment, with  a  single  exception.  This  exception  was 
pointed  out  to  him  as  bearing  the  power  of  death. 
A  thousand  agencies  invited  to  life;  a  single  one 
threatened  death. 

Two  commands  had  been  given  him  in  love. 
They  had  reference  to  his  relations  to  the  earth, 
as  fresh  from  the  Creator's  hands  as  himself.  One 
enjoined  him  to  fill  this  new  earth  with  a  race 
bearing  the  stamp  and  image  of  himself,  which 
was  also  that  of  his  Creator.  The  other  one  sug- 
gested his  natural  supremacy  over  the  life  and 
forces  of  this  new  world,  into  which  he  had  been 

iii 


//  / 


Introductory 

placed,  and  commanded  that  he  subdue  them; 
that  is,  become  master  of  them,  for  in  so  doing  he 
would  subdue  the  earth  itself.  "And  God  said 
unto  them,  Be  fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  replen- 
ish the  earth,  and  subdue  it." 

But  his  ability  to  render  obedience  to  these  two 
commands,  exhibiting  his  appointed  relations  to 
the  natural  world,  was  made  dependent  upon  the 
character  of  his  actions  in  the  garden.  If  here  he 
was  obedient  then  all  else  appointed  him  would 
follow  easily  and  naturally;  but  if  disobedient 
then  the  shadows  and  pangs  of  death  would  settle 
down  upon  him,  and  follow  him  and  his  posterity. 
"Of  every  tree  of  the  garden  thou  mayest  freely 
eat :  but  of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil ;  thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it :  for  in  the  day  that 
thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die." 

He  at  once  lived  in  two  worlds.  In  the  one  be- 
fore him  stretched  out  forest,  and  prairie,  and 
sea ;  and  above,  the  blue  canopy  of  heaven.  In  the 
other  was  a  planted  garden,  watered,  and  ap- 
pointed solely  for  him.  In  the  one  he  was  to  give 
himself  to  the  functions  of  animal  life,  have  do- 
minion over  other  forms  of  animal  life,  and  gain 
the  mastery  over  the  material  universe  of  which 

Iv 


Introductory 

he  was  himself  a  part.  In  the  other  he  was  "to 
dress  it  and  keep  it/'  to  choose  his  highest  good 
in  obedience  to  his  Creator's  command,  in  that 
Avhich  appealed  to  himself  as  "good  for  food,"  "a 
delight  to  the  eyes,"  and  "to  be  desired  to  make 
one  wise."  He  was  an  inhabitant  upon  the  earth, 
but  he  was  also  a  citizen  of  a  kingdom  whose  holy 
sovereign  was  his  Creator. 

He  fell.  From  this  kingdom  his  act  of  disobe- 
dience made  him  an  alien,  for  here  no  subject  as- 
serts himself  in  contradiction  to  his  sovereign. 
The  choice  of  self-gratification  unfitted  him  for 
citizenship  in  the  garden.  He  was  sent  forth, 
now,  to  struggle  for  subsistence  and  dominion. 
Now  an  alien,  by  an  act  of  his  own  choice,  he  is 
left  to  those  motions  of  his  being,  those  impulses 
of  his  moral  nature,  which  harmonize  with  the 
character  of  his  own  choice.  He  has  indeed  fallen. 
He  was  doubtless  created  for  immortality ;  he  will 
now  be  subject  to  death.  He  was  free  to  choose, 
and,  having  chosen  the  evil,  the  possibility  to  sin 
has  become  an  impossibility  not  to  sin.  Even  the 
whole  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  his  heart  has 
become  only  evil  continually.  His  course  of  moral 
being  now  will  flow  on  in  separation  from  God. 


CONTENTS. 


Chaptkb  Page. 

Introductory, iii 

I.    Statements  From  God's  Word,    -       -  9 

II.    Statements  of  Theoix)gians,         -       -  12 

III.    God's  Act, 19 

rv.    Experience, 22 

V.    The  Need, 30 

VI.    Provision  Made,        -----  39 

Vn.    Agencies  Used,          -----  44 

VIII.    Born  Again, 48 

IX.    Evidences,           __       -       -       -       -  60 

X.    Child  Conversion, 78 


vU 


REGENERATION, 


CHAPTEE  I. 

Statements  from  God's  Word. 

We  are  to  consider  that  subjective  change 
wrought  in  the  soul  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  which,  in 
theological  language,  is  called  regeneration.  We 
are  to  remember,  at  every  step  of  the  way,  that  we 
have  before  us  as  the  subject  of  regeneration  the 
individual  man,  possessing  a  depraved  nature. 
He  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  subject  to  the  penalty 
of  original  sin.  That  was  fully  paid  upon  the 
cross  by  the  perfect  Man.  Under  the  covenant  oY 
grace  his  separation  from  God,  springing  from  de- 
pravity transmitted  without  his  knowledge  or 
choice,  is  to  be  overcome  by  the  pardon  of  sins  com- 
mitted, and  by  recreation  of  the  moral  nature  to 
purposes  of  obedience  to  God,  and  to  choices  of  the 
good. 


Begeneration 

In  the  Holy  Scriptures  this  change  is  variously 
designated.  At  the  time  of  the  first  passover  fol* 
lowing  the  baptism  and  temptation  of  Christ,  while 
in  conversation  with  Nicodemus,  Jesus  declared^ 
"Except  a  man  be  born  anew,  he  cannot  see  the 
kingdom  of  God."  The  same  thing  is  spoken  of  in 
Ezekiel  36 :  26,  27,  when  God,  after  declaring  his 
purpose  to  cleanse  his  people,  says,  "A  new  heart 
also  will  I  give  you,  and  a  new  spirit  will  I  put 
within  you;  and  I  will  take  away  the  stony  heart 
out  of  your  flesh,  and  I  will  give  you  a  heart  of 
flesh/'  In  Ephesians  4:22,  23,  the  apostle  indi- 
rectly exhorts,  "That  ye  put  away,  as  concerning 
your  former  manner  of  life,  the  old  man,  which 
waxeth  corrupt  after  the  lusts  of  deceit;  and  that 
ye  be  renewed  in  the  spirit  of  your  mind,  and  put 
on  the  new  man,  which  after  God  hath  been  created 
in  righteousness  and  holiness  of  truth."  And 
again  it  is  said,  II.  Corinthians  5:17,  "If  any 
man  is  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature:  the  old 
things  are  passed  away;  behold,  they  are  become 
new." 

In  these  passages  regeneration  is  spoken  of  un- 
der the  figures  of  being  ^T)orn  again,"  of  being 
given  "a  new  heart,"  of  putting  "away  the  old 

10 


Regeneration 

man,"  and  of  being  "a  new  creature,"  and  in  I. 
John  3 :  14  it  is  represented  as  a  resurrection,  for 
the  apostle  says,  "We  know  that  we  have  passed 
out  of  death  into  life." 

The  reader  will  recall  other  passages.  For  the 
present  purposes  let  these  suffice;  but  let  it  be 
noticed  that  in  their  character  they  are  highly 
figurative,  and  remembered  that  figurative  lan- 
guage is  often  used  to  express  the  profoundest 
truths. 


11 


CHAPTEK  11. 

Statements  of  Theologians. 

Theologians  have  had  much  to  say  in  explana- 
tion of  those  passages  of  scripture  given  in  the 
preceding  chapter,  and  of  others  similar  to  them, 
as  well  as  of  their  application  to  human  expe- 
rience. Many  theories  have  been  deduced,  directly 
or  indirectly,  from  references  made  in  God's  Word 
to  the  change  of  attitude  assumed  by  men  when 
they  really  accept  God  as  their  sovereign  Father, 
and  Jesus  Christ  as  their  personal  Saviour.  A 
few  of  these  are  given  for  purposes  which  will  ap- 
pear. No  attempt  is  made  to  classify  them,  or  to 
arrange  them  to  correspond  with  any  order  of 
scriptural  passages. 

In  an  old  Calvinistic  confession  occur  these 
words :  "Man,  by  his  fall  into  a  state  of  sin,  hath 
wholly  lost  all  ability  of  will  to  any  spiritual  good 
accompanying  salvation ;  so  as  a  natural  man,  be- 
ing altogether  averse  from  that  which  is  good, 

12 


Regeneration 

and  dead  in  sin,  he  is  not  able,  by  his  own  strength, 
to  convert  himself,  or  to  prepare  himself  thereto. 
When  God  converts  a  sinner,  and  translates  him 
into  the  state  of  grace,  he  freeth  him  from  his 
natural  bondage  under  sin,  and  by  His  grace 
alone  enables  him  freely  to  will  and  to  do  that 
which  is  spiritually  good."  This  is  somewhat  at 
variance  with  the  declaration  in  the  Tridentine 
Canons,  "If  any  one  shall  affirm  that  the  free  will 
of  man,  moved  and  excited  by  God,  cooperates 
notliing  by  assenting  to  God  thus  exciting  and 
calling,  so  that  it  disposes  and  prepares  itself  for 
obtaining  the  grace  of  justification,  but  like  some 
inanimate  object  does  nothing  at  all,  but  is  merely 
passive,  let  him  be  accursed."  [It  should  be  no- 
ticed that  the  word  "justification"  in  the  above 
statement  necessarily  includes  regeneration.]  From 
the  Belgic  Confession,  "We  believe  that  our  sal- 
vation consists  in  the  remission  of  our  sins  for 
Jesus  Christ's  sake,  and  that  therein  our  right- 
eousness before  God  is  implied."  From  the  Thirty- 
nine  Articles,  "We  are  accounted  righteous  before 
God  only  for  the  merit  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ  by  faith."  From  the  Auburn  Dec- 
laration,  "Regeneration  is   a  radical   change   of 

13 


Begeneration 

heart,  produced  by  the  special  operations  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  determining  the  sinner  to  that  which 
is  good,  and  is  in  all  cases  instantaneous.''  From 
the  confession  of  the  Free-will  Baptists,  "This 
change  is  an  instantaneous  renewal  of  the  heart 
hy  the  Holy  Spirit,  whereby  the  penitent  sinner 
receives  new  life,  becomes  a  child  of  God,  and  is 
disposed  to  serve  him."  From  the  Eeformed 
Episcopal  Articles,  "Regeneration  is  the  creative 
act  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  whereby  he  imparts  to  the 
soul  a  new  spiritual  life."  Eichard  Watson  says : 
"Eegeneration  is  a  concomitant  of  justification. 
.  .  .  .  It  is  that  mighty  change  in  man,  wrought 
by  the  Holy  Spirit,  by  which  the  dominion  that 
sin  has  over  him  in  his  natural  state,  is  broken 
and  abolished,  so  that,  with  full  choice  of  will  and 
the  energy  of  right  affections,  he  serves  God  freely, 
and  runs  in  the  way  of  his  commandments."  A 
broader  and  somewhat  more  purely  philosophical 
conception  is  seen  in  the  words  of  Edmond  H. 
Sears  when  he  says,  "The  way  of  our  regeneration 
lies  through  bitter  repentances  and  death-struggles 
for  victory.  The  path  ...  is  open  and  plain. 
It  is  simply  self-denial,  until  there  is  no  self  to 
deny."  The  Delitzseh  doctrine  may  be  thus  stated : 

14 


Eegeneration 

"Utter  ruin  was  the  consequence  of  the  fall. 
.  .  .  The  Son  of  God  became  man,  not  by  as- 
suming our  nature,  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  those 
words,  but  by  ceasing  to  be  almighty,  omniscient, 
and  omnipresent,  and  contracting  himself  to  the 
limits  of  humanity.  It  was  a  human  life  into 
which  he  thus  entered.  .  .  .  It  is  this  divine 
nature  in  the  form  of  humanity,  or  this  divine - 
human  nature,  which  is  purely  and  simply, 
though  perfectly,  human,  which  is  communicated 
to  the  people  of  God  in  their  regeneration." 

There  is  probably  nothing  gained  in  presenting 
other  views,  and  yet,  for  the  sake  of  the  choice 
variety  given,  the  definitions  selected  by  the  Eev. 
John  Winebrenner  as  given  in  his  "Treatise  on 
Regeneration,"  page  98,  are  here  repeated. 
Dwight,  "A  relish  for  spiritual  objects."  Brown, 
"God's  implantation  of  holy  principles  in  our 
hearts."  Baxter,  "Nature's  reparation,  elevation, 
and  perfection."  Helfenstein,  "The  restoration  of 
God's  image  in  the  soul."  Finney,  "A  voluntary 
change  in  the  governing  preference  of  the  mind, 
or  a  change  of  choice."  Campbell,  "Regeneration 
literally  indicates  the  whole  process  of  renovating 
or  new-creating  man."    William  Law,  "Regenera- 

15 


Regeneration 

tion  consists  solely  in  the  restoration  of  the  birth 
of  the  Son  of  God  in  the  human  soul."  E.  D, 
Griffin,  "Regeneration  is  a  transition  from  su- 
preme selfishness  to  universal  love,  from  enmity 
against  God  to  supreme  attachment  to  him." 
Dr.  Gill,  "Regeneration  is  the  production  of  the 
new  man,  or  a  new  principle  which  was  not  be- 
fore." George  Duffield,  "Regeneration  is  the  com- 
mencement of  spiritual  life."  Witherspoon,  "Re- 
generation is  the  reparation  of  the  loss  which  man 
sustained  by  the  fall." 

And  now,  can  we  leave  the  theologians  to 
possess  the  field,  since  they  have  so  well  covered  it  ? 
But  take  even  a  cursory  glance  at  these  state- 
ments. It  is  readily  seen  that  they  present  many 
and  varied  theories  of  the  doctrine,  and  that  thoy 
suggest  all  shades  of  soteriology,  from  absolute 
human  monergism  to  absolute  divine  monergism. 
It  is,  therefore,  evident  that  whatever  is  meant  by 
the  Scriptures  in  such  expressions  as  'iDOrn 
again,"  "new  heart,"  "putting  away  the  old  man," 
"new  creation,"  etc.,  interpreters  differ  widely, 
both  as  to  what  the  thing  itself  is,  and  as  to  the 
manner  in  which  it  is  brought  about ;  and  this,  not 
only  as  to  agencies  employed,  but  also  as  to  ef- 

16 


Regeneration 

f ects  produced  in  the  consciousness  of  men.  Either 
the  scriptural  language  with  reference  to  this  mat- 
ter must  be  obscure,  or  men's  philosophies  color 
their  understandings  of  scriptural  truths,  or  there 
must  be  a  profound  mystery  imbedded  in  the  ex- 
pressions used  by  the  inspired  writers,  or  man  has 
not  yet  attained  to  that  ability  to  conceive  spirit- 
ual things  to  which  God  intends  he  shall  come  in 
order  clearly  to  apprehend  his  dealings  with  him. 
A  shade  of  all  these  supposed  difficulties  may  enter 
into  the  case.  Doubtless  the  language  is  rabbinic, 
and  preconceptions  determine  interpretations.  But 
more :  To  himself  man  is  a  mystery,  and  yet  the 
natural  and  moral  worlds  must  be  held  together, 
in  their  respective  operations,  by  an  incessant  ad- 
ministration. Shall  we  assume  his  clear  percep- 
tion of  the  agencies  and  energies  that  fashion  his 
being,  or  the  seemingly  miraculous  combinations 
necessary  to  the  generation  of  a  spiritual  life,  so 
natural,  so  divine  ?  Has  he  become  that  being  to 
whom  God's  revelation  is  the  unsealed  book  ?  Let 
the  ages  to  come  first  build  stepping-stones  to 
heights  not  yet  attained!  Then  why  attempt  to 
define  regeneration  ?  And  yet,  man  treads  a  path 
whose  glory  forbids  his  being  silent.     His  sours 

2  17 


Regeneration 

nativity  is  still  the  garden  of  God.  Tlioughts  that 
wander  from  eternity  refuse  to  be  repressed,  and 
faces  unknown,  and  voices  articulating  not  a 
word  impel  his  inmost  being,  and  he  speaks.  His 
words  are  meant  to  tell  his  dearest  hope, — that 
evil  flee,  and  goodness  fill  his  soul  with  the  rap- 
ture of  an  angel's  smile ;  it  is  regeneration. 


18 


CHAPTER  III. 
GoD^s  Act. 

Regeneration  is  to  be  considered  horn,  two 
standpoints :  1.  From  the  Godward  side.  2.  From 
the  manward  side.  From  God's  side,  it  is  an  act 
of  his  almighty  power  exercised  upon  the  sinner's 
depraved  nature,  giving  the  spiritual  ascendency- 
over  the  carnal.  From  man's  side,  it  is  a  thing 
received,  an  effect  produced,  a  change  wrought  by 
an  agency  entirely  outside  of  himself,  and  abso- 
lutely beyond  himself  or  his  direct  control. 

No  shadow  of  the  efficient  cause  of  the  regenera- 
tion of  the  sinner  can  be  found  in  himself.  He 
lies  in  sin  crying  for  help,  but  helpless.  He  makes 
himself  ready  for  regeneration  by  knowledge,  and 
faith,  and  repentance,  and  conversion;  but  justi- 
fication and  regeneration  are  purely  acts  of  God, 
and  his  alone,  on  account  of  the  favor  grounded 
in  the  gift  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  is  constantly 
operative  within  its  own  parallels.  When  the  sin- 
ner puts  himself  within  these  parallels  of  God's 

19 


Regeneration 

favor  in  Jesus  Christ,  instantly  the  act  of  God 
which  makes  him  a  new  creature  is  performed  by 
an  omnipotence  full  of  grace  and  mercy.  The 
potency  is  not  in  the  sinner's  act,  or  in  any  com- 
bination of  acts  of  which  he  is  capable,  "for  it  is 
God  which  worketh  in  you  both  to  will  and  to 
work." 

This  act  of  God  cannot  be  defined.  "The  wind 
bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the 
voice  thereof,  but  knowest  not  whence  it  cometh, 
and  whither  it  goeth;  so  is  every  one  that  is  born 
of  the  Spirit."  There  is,  therefore,  but  little  to 
say  of  the  act  of  regeneration  as  performed  by  the 
Almighty,  except  as  it  affects  us;  for  we  can 
neither  describe  it  nor  determine  it.  We  believe 
he  forgives  us  our  sins,  and  changes  the  fountain 
of  our  being,  from  which  spring  affections  and 
acts,  so  that  instead  of  bitterness  there  is  sweet- 
ness, but  to  assume  to  determine  the  definite  lim- 
its of  these  acts  were  indeed  presumption.  The 
entire  plan  of  redemption  as  laid  down  by  the  Al- 
mighty is  based  upon  truths  which  in  their  last 
analysis  lie  far  beyond  our  comprehension. 

The  Bible  record  is  a  revelation  of  God,  and  in 
it  the  plan  of  redemption  is  set  forth,  but  we  may 

20 


Eegeneration 

with  profit  cease  our  controversies  in  relation  to 
our  interpretations  of  it,  for  we  shall  never  un- 
derstand, and  if  we  could,  we  should  not  be  ma- 
terially advantaged.  Better  turn  our  attention  to 
a  definition  of  our  own  instincts  and  impulses, 
and  the  motions  of  our  own  being  under  the  di- 
vine influence  and  agency,  and  to  the  development 
of  a  science  of  the  soul  with  reference  to  spiritual 
things,  as  men  have  set  forth  a  science  of  the 
mind  with  reference  to  things  pertaining  to  the 
intellect.  With  the  Father  there  "can  be  no  varia- 
tion, neither  shadow  that  is  cast  by  turning." 
Concerning  the  certain  and  unchanging  we  need 
not  question.  That  is  positive  and  always  avail- 
able in  accord  with  its  own  laws.  With  man  all  is 
tentative  and  changing.  How  shall  the  fitful  hu- 
man, subject  to  countless  counter-influences,  many 
of  which  are  subconscious,  define  its  relations  and 
interpret  them  ?  The  old  adage,  "Know  thyself," 
is  still  good  philosophy. 


21 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Experience. 

Since  the  introduction  of  Pietism  and  Quiet- 
ism much  has  been  made  of  what  is  commonly- 
called  "religious  experience/'  and  "experimental 
religion."  The  "experience"  is  especially  to  be 
realized  in  connection  with  the  change  wrought  in 
regeneration.  It  "is  a  sensible  assurance  of  God's 
favor  in  the  believer's  blessed  consciousness,"  and 
is  supposed  by  many  to  accompany  a  bodily  and 
spiritual  penitential  struggle,  without  which  there 
can  be  no  spiritual  experience,  and,  therefore,  no 
regeneration.  "This  experience  is  crudely  con- 
ceived as  a  striking  emotional  event  which  must  be 
of  extraordinary  character  in  order  to  meet  ex- 
pectations." 

It  is  not  here  assumed  that  religious  expe- 
rience, either  at  the  time  of  conversion  or  at  any 
subsequent  time,  is  to  be  regarded  as  entitled  to  a 
less  important  consideration  than  it  now  receives, 
or  has  received  in  the  past.    But  we  may  observe 

22 


Regeneration 

the  fact  that  so  much  emphasis  has  been  laid  upon 
the  emotional  aspects  of  religion  that  serious  mis- 
apprehensions of  the  truth  have  followed  to  the 
confusion  of  many  a  sincere  inquirer,  and  to  the 
disgust  of  many  a  thoughtful  observer.  The 
Christian  religion  is  not  an  emotionless  religion, 
but  it  is  not  primarily  an  emotion  or  an  expe- 
rience. It  is  a  great  principle  involving  a  great 
personality.  The  adoption  of  the  principle  is  the 
choice  of  the  personality.  This  personality  is  to 
be  an  absolute  sovereign,  to  whom  is  to  be  given 
supreme  service  growing  out  of  a  supreme  love. 
We  are  invited  to  make  this  choice,  but  are  not 
called  upon  to  suffer  emotional  upheavals,  or  to 
receive  clearly  defined  witnesses  of  the  Spirit,  or 
to  expect  extravagant  experiences.  We  are  called 
upon  to  believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  to  take 
up  the  cross  and  follow  him ;  to  repent  and  be  con- 
verted ;  to  love  the  Lord  with  all  the  heart ;  to  en- 
dure hardness,  etc.,  and  with  every  duty  enjoined, 
or  privilege  expressed,  there  is  an  abundant  prom- 
ise. But  every  requirement  is  to  be  met  in  faith, 
and  experience  nowhere  is  represented  as  preced- 
ing in  any  sense  the  solemn  surrender  of  the  will 
and  life  to  God. 

23 


Begeneration 

To  seek  an  experience,  a  subjective  perturba- 
tion, either  for  the  pleasure  of  its  enjoyment  or 
as  a  sign  whereby  we  may  know  that  God  is  pro- 
pitious, and  then  to  regard  such  experience  as  may 
arise  as  the  indispensable  test  of  discipleship,  is 
most  unfortunate.  The  "feelings"  have  a  complex 
root,  and  are  so  dependent  upon  physical  condi- 
tions that  they  are  utterly  unsafe  as  criteria  in 
these  matters.  That  this  is  true  is  evidenced  in 
the  frequency  with  which  the  so-called  converted 
backslide  and  give  up  their  profession  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Then,  too,  frequently  it  is  a  fact  that  the 
misguided  soul  primarily  seeking  the  sign,  the 
experience,  fails  to  find  it,  and  on  this  account 
falls  into  uncertainty  and  doubt  and  artificialness, 
when  the  religious  life,  which  God  intended  to  be 
a  peace  that  flows  like  a  river,  becomes  the  turmoil 
of  a  tempest. 

What  is  the  difficulty  ?  Undoubtedly  this :  Men 
forget  that  God  is  to  be  found,  and  not  an  expe- 
rience ;  that  they  are  no  longer  their  own,  but  serv- 
ants of  a  Master  whose  service  is  joy.  There  is 
really  nothing  to  seek  except  God,  and  finding  him 
is  far  different  from  finding  an  experience.  Hav- 
ing found  him  in  regenerating  grace,  one  will  re- 

24 


Regeneration 

joice  in  God,  and  in  urue  godliness.  He  will  say 
with  the  prophet:  "I  will  greatly  rejoice  in  the 
Lord;  my  soul  shall  be  joyful  in  my  God;  for  he 
hath  clothed  me  .  .  .  with  the  robe  of 
righteousness." 

"I  delight  to  do  thy  will,  0  my  God ; 
Yea,  thy  law  is  within  my  heart." 

His  emphasis  is  upon  his  relationship  to  the 
Lord,  and  from  correct  relationship  and  service  he 
draws  his  pleasure.  There  is  no  evidence  of  a 
barren  chase  after  emotions,  but  of  an  overflowing 
delight  in  contemplation  of  a  redeeming  Jehovah. 

Eeligious  emotions  are  good,  and  not  to  be  de- 
spised; but  they  are  not  to  be  directly  sought,  or 
to  be  chased  after  for  their  own  sake.  "They  are 
to  come  as  the  unforced  attendants  of  our  re- 
lidous  faith  and  devotion  and  obedience.  When 
thus  coming,  they  are  wholesome,  and  helpful, 
and  natural.  In  every  other  case  they  are  unwhole- 
some, harmful,  unnatural."  The  real  peace  and 
joy  come  naturally,  in  God's  chosen  order.  They 
arise  in  the  repentant,  surrendered  soul  centered 
upon  God  in  contemplation  of  his  unmeasured 
grace,  when  it  profoundly  yields  itself  in  loving 

25 


Regeneration 

submission  and  active  obedience  to  the  will  of  God, 
in  accord  with  the  provisions  made  in  Christ  Jesus, 
the  Saviour.  He  who  anxiously  seeks  happiness 
never  finds  it. 

It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  duty  and  privilege 
and  service  are  to  be  emphasized  in  our  own  lives, 
and  our  emotional  nature  left  to  itself  to  bring  us 
pleasure  if  it  will,  pain  if  it  must.  And  yet,  who 
does  not  prefer  pleasure  to  pain?  and  who  is  not 
frequently  disquieted  by  the  fears  which  arise  in 
answer  to  his  doubts  ?  Even  after  our  conversion, 
or  confirmation,  and  union  with  the  church,  in- 
quiries unanswerable  do  arise,  to  our  dismay,  dis- 
astrous, not  only  to  our  peace  of  mind,  but  to  our 
endurance  as  well.  Do  not  these  figure  in  the  re- 
ligious life?  Ah,  yes,  too  largely.  But  the  serv- 
ant of  God,  with  his  eye  upon  the  Captain  of  his 
salvation,  must  have  too  many  conquests  to  make, 
and  see  too  great  incentives  in  the  glories  of  his 
victories,  to  allow  thoughts  that  wander  from  the 
nether  regions  to  discomfit  him.  When  God  smiles 
upon  him  he  rejoices;  when  clouds  overshadow, 
either  in  persecution  or  in  doubt,  he  rejoices  that 
he  is  "counted  worthy  to  suffer  dishonor  for  the 
Name."    God  is  to  be  seen,  the  filial  spirit  culti- 

26 


Regeneration 

vated,  the  soul  surrendered  in  loving  obedience, 
the  King's  business  attended  to  with  haste  and 
fidelity,  the  forces  of  the  soul  marshaled  against 
evil,  the  Spirit's  voice  distinguished  as  supremely 
authoritative, — blessed  he  who  can  consume  him- 
self in  these  with  never  a  thought  of  experience. 

But  what  can  be  done  when  fear  and  doubt  per- 
sist in  driving  from  the  timid  soul  the  peace  and 
comfort  it  rightfully  claims  in  the  service  of  God  ? 
There  is  a  servile  fear  which  is  the  product  of 
doubt;  and  there  is  a  virtuous  fear,  the  effect  of 
faith.  Seek  this  by  renewing  faith,  and  renew 
faith  by  shrinking  from  sin.  Fear  not  to  find  God 
in  mountain  and  sea  and  sky,  but  most  of  all  in 
the  conscience  and  in  the  will.  Fear  to  lose  him; 
for  such  filial  fear  animates  us  to  avoid  what 
would  be  offensive  to  our  Heavenly  Father,  and  to 
consult  his  desires  as  to  our  choices  and  motives 
and  acts,  and  to  hold  sweet  converse  with  him  as 
friend  with  friend.  Eead  his  Word,  and  study  it 
sufficiently  to  learn  what  is  his  plan  for  our  lives, 
and  his  blessings  for  our  experiences.  Interpret 
closely  the  teachings  from  human  lips,  upon  which 
you  depend  for  comfort  and  instruction,  and  re- 
ceive them  judiciously,   distinguishing  carefully 

2T 


Regeneration 

between  theological  language  and  the  language  of 
experience.  It  is  easy  to  speak  of  being  "born 
again/'  or  of  receiving  "a  new  heart/'  of  "loving 
God/'  or  of  ^%ving  our  enemies/'  in  set  phrases 
that  mean  but  little  to  the  speaker,  and  less  to  the 
hearer,  and  yet  place  an  emphasis  which,  to  the 
anxious  learner,  not  accustomed  to  giving  atten- 
tion to  theological  terms  and  to  making  allowance 
for  the  mode  of  their  expressing  things  really  to 
be  experience,  suggests  utter  hopelessness,  because 
seemingly  utter  impossibility.  Wait  upon  God, 
and  when  he  speaks,  obey,  hearkening  unto  him 
rather  than  unto  men,  or  self-convenience,  or  self- 
gratification,  in  pleasure  if  can  be,  in  pain  if  must 
be;  and  doubt  will  sleep,  and  fear  will  flee. 

But  as  you  would  avoid  perdition  itself,  avoid 
cultivating  a  right  feeling  without  right  acting. 
Feeling  is  given  to  lead  to  action  as  well  as  to  bear 
testimony  to  it,  but  when  it  awakes  without  pass- 
ing into  duty  it  soon  slumbers  again  and  forgets 
to  ask  for  duty.  Our  feelings  are  delicately  cor- 
rect when  unconstrained,  but  we  shrink  from  the 
discharge  of  duty  which  they  suggest,  and  their 
feeble  flutterings  stirred  by  sermon  or  providence 
subside  to  give  empire  to  other  feelings  of  less  sen- 

28 


Regeneration 

sitive  nature.  The  modest  voice  of  conscience 
shrinks  from  the  overmastering  influence  of  self- 
complacency  and  self -gratification. 

And  now,  notwithstanding  the  uncertainties 
and  abuses  of  experience,  let  it  forever  be  remem- 
bered that  God  gives  his  faithful  ones  an  expe- 
rience. "In  that  day  ye  shall  know  that  I  am  in 
my  Father,  and  ye  in  me,  and  I  in  you.  He  that 
hath  my  commandments,  and  keepeth  them,  he  it 
is  that  loveth  me :  and  he  that  loveth  me  shall  be 
loved  of  my  Father,  and  I  will  love  him,  and  will 
manifest  myself  unto  him  .  .  .  and  we  will 
come  unto  him,  and  make  our  abode  with  him. 
.  .  .  These  things  have  I  spoken  unto  you, 
that  my  joy  be  in  you,  and  that  your  joy  may  be 
fulfilled." 


29 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Need. 

Whatever  may  be  the  philosophy  of  sin,  the 
conscious  experience  of  men  bears  testimony  to  the 
fact  that  some  great  fountain  of  evil  lies  deep  in 
the  human  nature.  Our  "involuntary  powers" 
seem  constantly  to  be  generating  a  brood  of  un- 
holy things  to  infest  our  inner  world,  so  that  when 
we  become  conscious  of  their  presence  they  are  al- 
ready taking  the  form  of  sin  and  wrong. 

On  the  one  hand,  a  constant  watchfulness  is 
necessary  to  avert  the  injuries  and  wrongs  with 
which  we  are  threatened  at  the  hands  of  others. 
And  it  is  evident  that  these  come  not  always  ac- 
cidentally, but  that  they  are  frequently  associated 
with  acts  purely  intentional,  though  not  neces- 
sarily primarily  designed  to  inflict  injury.  The 
motive  behind  them  is  self-advantage.  The  in- 
jury in  which  they  may  result  is  a  matter  of  in- 
difference. 

80 


Regeneration 

On  the  other  hand,  when  the  eye  is  accustomed 
to  introspection,  it  is  easy  to  discover  in  ourselves 
the  same  motives  and  impulses  which,  in  others, 
threatened  the  wrongs  and  injuries  averted  only 
by  our  watchfulness.  But  here  they  seem  not 
nearly  so  culpable,  or  so  seriously  objectionable. 
Some  strange  transformation  has  taken  place,  an3. 
the  thing  obnoxious  and  profoundly  to  be  despised 
in  others  has  become  the  friend  in  us,  and  our 
most  valued  support. 

The  question  naturally  arises.  What  is  this 
double-faced  sphinx,  now  white,  now  black,  now 
friend,  now  foe?  It  is  clear  that  the  claim  of 
lightness  does  not  only  demand  that  a  pure  motive 
shall  inspire  every  act,  but  also  that  the  act  shall 
be  so  performed  as  to  be  followed  by  a  result  not 
harmful.  It  is  equally  clear  that  the  mere  acci- 
dent of  location  does  not  determine  the  character 
of  a  motive  or  an  impulse.  The  thing  that  is  wrong 
in  my  neighbor  is  wrong  in  me.  What,  then, 
makes  it  seem  different  ?  The  instinct  of  self-pres- 
ervation? But  self-preservation  is  not  self-ag- 
grandizement. The  one  is  divinely  implanted; 
the  other  is  the  outflowing  virus  of  a  self -centered, 
depraved  nature.     It  matters  not  what  name  is 

31 


Begeneration 

given  to  the  thing  within  the  human  breast  which 
causes  self-interest  to  overshadow  and  practically 
to  blot  out  of  our  program  the  good  of  our  neigh- 
bor, or  of  the  community,  it  still  lies  at  the  bot- 
tom of  every  violation  of  justice  and  of  right- 
eousness. 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  our  acts  in  relation  to 
God?  What  inspiration  led  to  folly  so  consum- 
mate and  presumption  so  damnable  as  to  lead  a 
human  nature  entirely  uncorrupt  and  unper- 
verted,  needing  no  revelation  but  the  deep  and 
clear  intuitions  of  the  mind  itself,  to  assent  to  the 
falsehood  of  a  proposition  carrying  with  it  the 
disobedience  which  should  send  down  through  the 
generations  so  broad  a  stream  of  distress  and 
death?  "When  the  woman  saw  that  the  tree  was 
good  for  food,  and  that  it  was  a  delight  to  the  eyes, 
and  that  the  tree  was  to  be  desired  to  make  one 
wise,"  self-gratijB.cation  weighed  in  the  balances 
against  the  expressed  will  of  the  Creator,  and  ever 
since  it  has  appealed  toymen  with  greater  force 
than  his  often  expressed  desire  that  they  "should 
live  soberly  and  righteously  and  godly  in  this  pres- 
ent world."  The  Golden  Eule  would  be  easily  ob- 
served were  it  not  that  selfness  holds  down  the 

32 


Regeneration 

truth  in  unrighteousness.  From  the  first,  man 
was  in  unity  with  God,  and  made  in  his  likeness, 
intended  to  be  self -impelled  and  self -controlled  in 
righteousness,  but  by  the  insistence  of  selfness, 
and  a  choice  of  self-gratification,  the  head  of  the 
race  placed  himself  in  antithesis  with  God  and 
so  opened  a  place  for  distrust  and  disobedience, 
and  not  only  sinned,  but  became  sinful.  From 
that  time  until  this,  every  generation  has  come 
down  a  line  of  tainted  ancestry,  and,  by  the  irrev- 
ocable law  of  descent,  evil  has  had  opportunity  to 
gather  strength  and  volume  on  the  way.  The  re- 
sult is  that  the  affections  are  frozen;  the  intellect 
is  blinded;  the  will  is  in  bondage. 

From  this  wreck  of  lofty  powers  and  holy  apti- 
tudes has  descended  a  stream  of  pollution  and  sin, 
wide  as  the  human  race,  and  whose  miasmata  have 
vitiated  all  life,  so  that  gloomy  superstitions  and 
varied  idolatries  in  all  stages  of  civilization  per- 
meate society  and  attack  the  citadel  of  every  soul. 
Nations  and  tribes,  as  well  as  individuals,  are  sep- 
arated by  a  mighty  selfishness  that  has  instigated 
wars  and  feuds,  slain  justice,  and  dried  up  the 
fountains  of  brotherhood.  Even  Christian  na- 
tions and  Christian  society  cherish  their  favorite 

3  33 


Regeneration 

falsehoods,  and  there  is  more  truth  than  poetry  in 
the  couplet : 

"Truth  forever  on  the  scaffold, 
Wrong  forever  on  the  throne." 

Nor  is  this  condition  of  affairs  the  result  of  bad 
example  and  evil  influence.  There  is  that  back 
of  influence  and  example,  which,  on  the  one  hand, 
is  the  fountain  from  which  influence  and  example 
are  the  outflow,  and,  on  the  other,  the  ocean  into 
which  they  empty.  The  internal  forces  of  human 
nature  include  elements  which  are  evil,  and  only 
evil.  Always  in  conflict  with  every  holy  impulse 
of  the  soul,  they  are  the  mind  of  the  flesh,  which 
is  enmity  toward  God ;  for  to  the  law  of  God  it  is 
not  subject;  neither  can  it  be;  and  they  that  are  in 
the  flesh  cannot  please  God.  .Selfishness  in  its 
many-sided  forms,  malice,  revenge,  hatred, 
cruelty,  deceit,  and  a  thousand  forms  of  acquired 
self -gratification  devour  every  holy  instinct. 
These  are  that  "body  of  death"  from  which  Paul 
desired  release,  and  from  which  every  soul  must 
be  delivered  as  the  pilgrim  was  of  his  burden  when 
he  came  to  the  cross.  These,  and  others  like  them, 
are  they  which  degrade  the  natural  appetites,  af- 
fections, and  powers,  in  themselves  good  when 

34 


Regeneration 

serving  the  higher  nature,  into  degeneracy  and 
sensuality.  Here  is  unbelief,  the  native-born  of 
hell,  changing  the  hope  of  the  immortal  spirit  into 
the  darkness  of  despair;  and  here  rebellion  and 
blasphemy  and  disobedience  in  myriad  forms, 
growing  disaster  and  shame  and  death  in  the  na- 
tive soil  of  the  human  heart.  How  far  distant  the 
realization  of  the  prophet's  dream,  when  he  said, 
"They  shall  not  hurt  nor  destroy  in  all  my  holy 
mountain :  for  the  earth  shall  be  full  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  Lord,  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea." 

Divine  revelation  in  its  entire  scope  assumes  the 
truth  so  tersely  put  by  Jesus  in  his  conversation 
with  Nicodemus,  "Ye  must  be  born  again."  The 
fabric  of  human  life  is  made  from  the  warp  of 
disobedience  and  the  woof  of  sinful  acts  and  mo- 
tives, and  the  sacred  record  is  that  it  is  a  "sinful 
nation,  a  people  laden  with  iniquity,  a  seed  of  evil- 
doers, children  that  deal  corruptly :  they  have  for- 
saken the  Lord,  they  have  despised  the  Holy  One 
of  Israel,  they  are  estranged  and  gone  backward. 
.  .  .  The  whole  head  is  sick,  and  the  whole 
heart  faint.  From  the  sole  of  the  foot  even  unto 
the  head  there  is  no  soundness  in  it;  but  wounds, 
and  bruises,  and  festering  sores;   they  have  not 

35 


Regeneration 

been  closed,  neither  bound  up^,  neither  mollified 
with  oil.'' 

The  situation  is  most  deplorable.  Society  is 
corrupt  and  needs  renovation.  Every  individual 
is  a  sinner  against  God.  "For  all  have  sinned,  and 
fall  short  of  the  glory  of  God."  We  cannot  restore 
ourselves.  "We  are  all  become  as  one  that  is  un- 
clean, and  all  our  righteousnesses  are  as  a  polluted 
garment."  God  cannot  set  his  approbation  upon 
beings  wanting  "holiness  without  which  no  man 
shall  see  the  Lord."  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
closed  against  us  unless  we  have  the  filial  spirit. 
"Except  ye  turn,  and  become  as  little  children,  ye 
shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 
The  heart  sees  not,  and  cares  not,  and  God  at  last 
gives  us  up  to  our  own  destruction.  "And  even  as 
they  refused  to  have  God  in  their  knowledge,  God 
gave  them  up  unto  a  reprobate  mind,  to  do  those 
things  which  are  not  fitting;  being  filled  with  all 
unrighteousness,  wickedness,  covetousness,  mali- 
ciousness; full  of  envy,  murder,  strife,  deceit,  ma- 
lignity; whisperers,  backbiters,  hateful  to  God, 
insolent,  haughty,  boastful,  inventors  of  evil 
things,  disobedient  to  parents,  without  under- 
standing,    covenant-breakers,     without     natural 


Regeneration 

affection,  unmerciful :  who,  knowing  the  ordinance 
of  God,  that  they  which  practice  such  things  are 
worthy  of  death,  not  only  do  the  same,  but  also 
consent  with  them  that  practice  them." 

Moreover,  the  visitations  of  divine  wrath  in 
deluge,  bondage,  and  pestilence ;  the  invitations  of 
divine  mercy  in  law  and  precept  and  prophetic 
warning;  the  expression  of  divine  compassion  in 
promise  and  vision  and  song;  the  outgoings  of  the 
human  heart  itself  in  prayers  and  lamentations 
and  the  offerings  of  sacrifices,  all  combine  in  em- 
phasizing the  sad  story  of  man's  sin  and  separa- 
tion from  God,  and  his  most  urgent  need  of  a  crea- 
tion within  himself  which  will  in  some  degree 
restore  to  him  the  communion  and  fellowship  with 
God,  by  some  means  lost. 

But  the  most  profound  expression  of  man's  need 
of  a  new  life  is  Jesus  Christ  himself.  In  his  char- 
acter he  sets  forth  what  man  was  intended  to  be. 
The  perfect  manhood  exemplified  in  him  must  for- 
ever, on  the  one  hand,  exhibit  God's  ideal,  and  on 
the  other,  man's  infinite  deviation  from  rectitude. 
The  price  he  paid  for  man's  restoration  measures 
not  only  the  value  of  the  human  soul,  but,  also, 
the  spirit  of  brotherhood  and  helpfulness  found  in 

3T 


Regeneration 

the  perfect  man  liimselfy  to  which  every  human 
being  needs  to  be  born  again.  No  such  gift,  as  is 
He,  could  be  offered  by  infinite  Wisdom  unless  a 
commensurate  need  existed.  And  to  become  a  new 
creature  in  Christ  Jesus,  to  be  born  again,  to  be 
released  from  sin,  and  the  power  of  sin,  how  pro- 
foundly to  be  desired ! 


3*? 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Provision  Made. 

Every  provision  made  for  redemption  is  based 
upon  the  primary  provision  of  the  atonement. 
The  penalty  attached  to  the  violation  of  God's 
law  contemplated  certain  wise  ends.  The  atone- 
ment is  what  was  substituted  in  the  place  of  the 
penalty  to  answer  the  same  ends  as  would  have 
been  attained  in  relation  to  justice  by  its  infliction 
upon  the  transgressor.  It  is  grounded  in  the  love 
of  God,  and  admits  the  showing  of  mercy  to  the 
condemned  criminal  without  infringement  upon 
the  demands  of  justice.  It  was  made  by  the  Eter- 
nally Begotten  of  the  Father's  love,  who,  from  the 
beginning,  had  the  divine  nature,  but  did  not  look 
upon  equality  with  God  as  something  to  cling  to, 
but  made  himself  poor  by  taking  the  nature  of  a 
servant  and  being  like  other  men.  Then  as  a  man 
he  came  among  us  and  humbled  himself  by  sub- 
mitting to  death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross.    *^In 

39 


Regeneration 

whom  we  have  our  redemption  through  his  blood, 
the  forgiveness  of  our  trespasses,  according  to  the 
riches  of  his  grace,  which  he  made  to  abound 
toward  us  in  all  wisdom  and  prudence;  having 
made  known  unto  us  the  mystery  of  his  will,  ac- 
cording to  his  good  pleasure  which  he  purposed  in 
him  unto  a  dispensation  of  the  fulness  of  the 
times,  to  sum  up  all  things  in  Christ." 

The  disobedience  which  destroyed  in  man  both' 
the  likeness  and  favor  of  God  made  him  not  only 
a  transgressor  of  law,  but  also  a  despiser  of  the 
Lawgiver.  We  hate  those  whom  we  injure.  Jus- 
tice would  have  allowed  him  so  to  remain.  God 
was  under  no  obligation  to  redeem  him.  Mercy 
would  lift  him  out  of  his  guilty,  ruined,  helpless 
state,  and  make  him  a  friend  again.  Love  bore 
the  burden  of  the  wonderful  plan  of  redemption, 
which  proposes  not  only  to  forgive  actual  trans- 
gressions, but  also  to  renovate  the  whole  nature, 
upon  conditions  absolutely  in  accord  with  justice, 
and  honorable  to  the  Sovereign  as  well  as  to  the 
subject. 

Why  there  is  no  remission  without  shedding  of 
blood  does  not  enter  here,  but  that  it  is  a  pro- 
foundly significant  and  blessed  fact  that  the  Heav- 

40 


Regeneration 

enl}^  Father  did  give  his  Son  as  an  expression  of 
his  love,  and  that  this  Son  of  God,  and  son  of 
Mary,  by  his  life  and  suffering,  his  resurrection 
and  ascension,  has  made  every  provision  necessary 
for  man's  return  to  his  Father's  house,  must  never 
be  forgotten,  or  lost  sight  of,  in  the  philosophies 
of  life.  And  if  the  mere  mercy  of  God,  without 
vicarious  sacrifice,  or  repentance  for  sin,  or  a  vis- 
itation of  punishment,  or  the  suffering  endured 
in  this  world,  is  a  sufficient  ground  of  hope,  the 
sinful  heart  has  not  yet  learned  to  believe  it.  And 
if  the  sins  of  the  past  can  be  blotted  out  by  future 
good  conduct,  and  if  moral  evils  can  be  overcome 
by  a  process  of  restoration  or  recuperation,  it  has 
not  yet  appeared  that  the  soul  stirred  by  the  in- 
stincts of  its  divine  nativity  can  restfully  repose 
upon  such  propositions.  The  faith  that  justifies  is 
based  upon  the  eternal  truth  that  God  hath  "at  the 
end  of  these  days  spoken  unto  us  in  his  Son, 
.  .  .  who,  .  .  .  when  he  had  made  puri- 
fication of  sins,  sat  down  on  the  right  hand  of  the 
Majesty  on  high."  "And  in  none  other  is  there 
salvation :  for  neither  is  there  any  other  name  un- 
der heaven,  that  is  given  among  men,  wherein  we 
must  be  saved."    "^Vlierefore,  holy  brethren,  par- 

41 


Regeneration 

takers  of  a  heavenly  calling,  consider  the  Apostle 
and  High  Priest  of  our  confession,  even  Jesus." 
Then  let  us  not  believe  that  God  was  made  pro- 
pitious or  moved  to  mercy  by  the  atonement,  but 
that  in  wisdom  his  benevolence  and  disposition  to 
show  mercy  led  him  to  give  his  Son  as  the  expres- 
sion of  love. 

This  atonement  made  in  the  offering  of  Jesus 
Christ  distils  into  man's  native  domain  an  all- 
pervasive  energy  redolent  with  the  fragrance  of 
Heaven's  love.  Of  himself  man  seeks  not  God; 
God  seeks  him.  And  so  in  the  deeper  fountains 
of  his  life  he  is  subject  to  under-currents  which 
seem  to  originate  in  the  eternal  mysteries  of  God. 
And  when  he  yields  himself  to  these  strange 
forces,  to  loose  his  being  from  the  thraldom  of 
sense,  the  messengers  of  the  unseen,  with  velvet 
touch,  persuade  his  soul  into  a  unison  with  the 
eternal  verities  of  God.  He  is  now  in  half-con- 
scious communion  with  troops  of  glorified  beings 
whose  conquering  spirits  possess  his  heart.  The 
spirit-world  is  not  far  away.  He  feels  its  breath- 
ings upon  his  soul,  and  his  mind  runs  through  un- 
accustomed channels.  The  fountains  of  his  being 
are  troubled  by  an  unseen  agency.     He  lies  in  a 

42 


Begeneraiion 

porch  of  Bethesda.  God  has  mercifully  made  it 
so  that  in  every  one's  life  there  come  times  when 
the  loneliness  of  midnight  seems  to  brood  over 
him  and  the  world's  jangling  voices  are  stilled, 
and  he  awakes  in  some  degree  to  a  recognition  of 
realities  of  which  he  has.  been  ordinarily  uncon- 
scious. But  what  mean  these  thoughts  that  wan- 
der from  eternity?  Only  this,  that  deeply  im- 
bedded in  the  mortal  is  the  immortal,  and  now 
and  then  the  mystic  life  of  the  spirit  asserts  itself 
over  the  sense-life.  It  is  God  calling  loudly, 
homeward.  The  involuntary  powers  of  our  souls 
arrested,  with  an  overmastering  energy  He  faces 
us  toward  eternity  and  toward  heaven.  It  is  the 
Holy  Spirit  taking  of  the  things  of  God  and  mani- 
festing them  to  us — to  us — to  our  subconscious 
selves;  and  brooding  over  us,  thoughts  of  eternal 
relations  recur  with  growing  urgency. 

And  so  the  King's  highway  is  made  to  lead 
"from  the  lowly  earth  to  the  vaulted  skies,"  and 
pilgrims  journey  thither  impelled  by  grace  divine, 
and  yet  what  nobler  exercise  of  godlike  function 
than  to  choose  Him  whose  love  is  life  ! 


A'A 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Agencies  Used. 

The  agencies  engaged  in  effecting  regeneration 
have  already  been  referred  to  in  various  connec- 
tions. The  intent  in  this  place  is  to  name  them  in 
direct  relationship  to  the  renewal  of  the  soul. 
They  are  to  be  regarded  as  employed  of  God  in 
procuring  man's  assent,  and  as  directly  efficient 
in  producing  the  moral  renovation  of  the  soul,  as 
well  as  used  by  man  in  bringing  himself  to  meet 
God  upon  the  conditions  of  the  gospel. 

1.  The  Word  of  Truth.  This,  in  the  objective 
form  of  revelation,  is  found  in  the  Bible.  It  is 
evidently  intended  by  its  Author  to  be  the  inspir- 
ited instrument  by  which  man  shall  definitely 
learn  the  essential  truths  of  his  salvation,  to  be 
inwrought  during  an  earthly  pilgrimage. 

"Thy  word  is  a  lamp  unto  my  feet, 
And  light  unto  my  path." 

It  warns  us  in  the  story  of  man's  sin,  and  en- 
heartens  us  with  its  message  of  redemption.     It 

44 


Regeneration 

shows  sin  twining  itself  about  the  heart  and  en- 
grafting itself  upon  life,  poisoning  the  affectional 
nature  and  binding  the  will,  until  our  own  free 
action  lies  subject  to  the  slavery  of  hell.  It  shows 
our  passions  that  sweep  us  impetuously  and  relent- 
lessly forward  to  the  limit  of  life,  and  into  the 
gloom  of  death;  but  it  lifts  the  pall  of  death 
and  shows  the  stream  of  life,  making  glad  the 
city  of  God.  Its  record  of  sin  is  dark  and  dread- 
ful, but  its  promise  of  life  is  the  golden  chain  of 
infinite  love  stretching  from  Eden,  by  Haran  and 
Bethel  and  Sinai  and  Moriah  and  Calvary,  into 
the  city  not  made  with  hands.  James  declares, 
"Of  his  own  will  begat  he  us  with  the  word  of 
truth."  And  the  psalmist  says,  "The  law  of  the 
Lord  is  perfect,  converting  the  soul."  The  great 
apostle  boasts,  "I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  gospel: 
for  it  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every 
one  that  believeth." 

This  "word  of  truth"  God  has  graciously  pro- 
vided for  the  reinforcement  of  the  religious  in- 
stincts with  which  he  has  endowed  the  soul,  and  to 
be  the  basis  of  all  religious  instruction.  And  he 
is  using  it  more  widely  than  ever  before.  It  is 
now  at  the  command  of  every  one  in  Christian 

45 


Begeneration 

lands,  and  within  the  reach  of  multitudes  in 
heathen  lands.  He  directs  its  proclamation  in 
thousands  of  pulpits  and  its  teaching  to  millions 
of  Sunday-school  scholars.  He  has  instilled  its 
precepts  into  the  literature  and  Jurisprudence  of 
all  civilized  nations.  And  he  declares,  "It  shall 
not  return  unto  me  void,  but  it  shall  accomplish 
that  which  I  please,  and  it  shall  prosper  in  the 
thing  whereto  I  sent  it."  It  is  the  source  of  our 
information  and  the  instrument  of  our  quicken- 
ing. 

2.  The  Holy  Spirit.  He  takes  the  truth  and 
interprets  it  and  applies  it.  The  word  of  revela- 
tion becomes  efficient  as  God's  Word  when  the 
Holy  Spirit  energizes  it,  and  he  does  so  only  for 
the  soul  surrendered  to  his  will.  "If  any  man 
willeth  to  do  his  will  he  shall  know  of  the  teach- 
ing, whether  it  be  of  God."  "'No  man  can  say, 
Jesus  is  Lord,  but  in  the  Holy  Ghost."  From  the 
very  earliest  he  hovers  over  the  soul  and  warms 
into  life  every  seed-truth.  By  his  agency  the  heart 
is  prepared  for  every  exercise  by  which  it  is 
opened  to  the  reception  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the 
embrace  of  the  truth.  "And  he,  when  he  is  come, 
will  convict  the  world  in  respect  of  sin,  and  of 

46 


Regeneration 

righteousness,  and  of  judgement.  .  .  .  How- 
beit  when  he,  the  Spirit  of  truth,  is  come,  he  shall 
guide  you  into  all  the  truth:  .  .  .  and  he 
shall  declare  unto  you  the  things  that  are  to  come. 
He  shall  glorify  me:  for  he  shall  take  of  mine, 
and  shall  declare  it  unto  you."  In  the  accom- 
plishment of  the  full  preparation  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  the  mind  informed,  the  heart  inclined,  the 
conscience  convicted,  the  faith  enriched,  the  choice 
made,  the  will  surrendered,  the  act  of  forgiveness 
and  renewal  is  involved  and  consummated.  "The 
wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest 
the  voice  thereof,  but  knowest  not  whence  it  com- 
eth,  and  whither  it  goeth:  so  is  every  one  that  is 
born  of  the  Spirit." 


47 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Born  Again. 

The  manward  side  of  regeneration  is  conver- 
sion. It  may  be  designated  as  the  objective  ex- 
pression of  that  change  of  the  moral  nature  which 
is  wrought  by  the  Almighty  in  regeneration,  or 
that  radical  change  in  man's  purpose  which  is  log- 
ically distinct  from  repentance  and  faith,  but 
which  accompanies  them.  In  conversion  man  is 
the  agent.  He  sees  his  mistaken  position  as  to 
Christ  and  the  church,  turns  square  about,  and 
commences  a  new  life.  Faith  and  repentance  and 
conversion  and  justification  and  regeneration  are 
all  logically  distinct,  but  they  all  enter  into  the 
cooperative  process  by  which  the  new  birth  comes 
about.  No  one  of  them  is  in  entirety  ever  present 
without  the  rest  of  them.  Justification  may  not 
take  place  without  regeneration,  or  conversion 
without  justification,  or  choice  of  God  without 
faith  and  repentance  and  conversion.    "For  whom 

48 


Regeneration 

he  foreknew,  he  also  foreordained  to  be  conformed 
to  the  image  of  his  Son,  that  he  might  be  the  first- 
born among  many  brethren:  and  whom  he  fore- 
ordained, them  he  also  called :  and  whom  he  called, 
them  he  also  justified:  and  whom  he  justified, 
them  he  also  glorified." 

As  to  the  conscious  recognition  of  the  process 
by  which  one  becomes  a  child  of  God,  it  may  be 
said  that  possibly  no  two  persons  are  affected 
alike.  It  would  probably  be  safe  to  assume  that 
regeneration  itself  is  similar  in  all  cases,  but  it  is 
doubtless  true  that  effects  which  are  wrought  upon 
the  subconscious  self  in  one  case,  in  another  stand 
out  with  remarkable  boldness  and  definiteness  of 
outline.  Not  infrequently  that  part  of  the  process 
which  we  had  hoped  to  realize  in  conscious  ex- 
perience most  definitely,  has  been  wrought  without 
a  hint  to  our  consciousness  of  its  occurrence.  It 
occurred,  but  it  escaped  our  observation.  Possibly 
we  had  thought  great  sorrow  for  sin,  or  a  great 
hatred  of  sin,  or  a  profound  self -abhorrence  would 
be  felt;  but  when  we  were  most  completely  con- 
vinced that  such  ought  to  be  the  case,  and  were 
most  desirous  that  it  should  be  so,  we  had  no  such 
experience.     Or  we  had  been  taught  that  there  is 

4  49 


Regeneration 

a  great  difference  between  historical  faith  and 
evangelical  or  saving  faith;  but  in  our  conscious- 
ness we  were  never  able  to  distinguish  one  from 
the  other,  if  there  really  are  two  kinds  of  faith. 
Or  we  had  thought  some  marked  change  would  be 
recognized  in  regard  to  the  things  we  loved  or 
hated;  but  in  our  real  experience  we  could  not 
discover  that  we  loved  God  more  or  hated  sin  more 
than  before  our  so-called  conversion.  Or  we  had 
hoped  to  experience  some  marked  subjective 
change  whereby  the  soul  would  be  filled  unutter- 
ably with  joy;  but  we  were  not  so  filled.  Any  one 
of  these  disappointments,  or  all  of  them,  may  have 
been  experienced  in  conversion,  and  it  might  have 
been  a  thorough  one,  carrying  with  it  justification 
and  regeneration.  Conditioned  upon  a  person's 
choosing  God  and  his  giving  himself  to  that  choice 
with  no  reservation  of  will,  the  grace  of  God  works 
in  him  both  to  will  and  to  work.  The  work  of 
grace  may  be  like  the  wind  that  bloweth  where  it 
listeth,  but  nevertheless  the  wind  blows,  and  the 
work  of  grace  goes  on. 

The  artificial  distinction  made  between  histor- 
ical and  evangelical  faith  is  very  convenient  for 
the  theological  treatment  of  faith  from  a  doctrinal 

50 


Begeneration 

standpoint,  but  so  far  as  its  manifestation  in  the 
experience  or  to  the  consciousness  of  the  penitent 
is  concerned,  it  amounts  to  absolutely  nothing, 
except  that  it  often  confuses  the  mind  of  the  peni- 
tent. In  experience,  faith  is  faith.  It  includes 
a  trustful  assumption  of  the  truth  by  the  mind, 
and  a  trustful  surrender  to  the  truth  by  the  will. 
It  may  be  more  of  one  than  of  the  other,  but 
never,  for  any  length  of  time,  all  of  one  and  none 
of  the  other.  There  is  a  truth  and  a  beauty  in  the 
expression,  "Believing  is  receiving.^'  But  choos- 
ing Jesus  Christ  is  receiving  him,  and  surrender- 
ing to  Jesus  Christ  is  receiving  him.  He  stands 
in  direct  contrast  with  that  which  is  designated 
the  world,  and  choosing  him  or  surrendering  to 
him  puts  one  in  alienation  from  the  world.  "No 
man  can  serve  two  masters ;  for  either  he  will  hate 
the  one,  and  love  the  other;  or  else  he  will  hold 
to  the  one,  and  despise  the  other.  Ye  cannot  serve 
God  and  mammon."  If,  then,  in  our  conversion, 
our  attention  should  be  placed  upon  our  choosing 
Christ  as  our  Saviour,  and  faith  in  its  operation  be 
unobserved,  let  us  allow  no  fears  lest  God  should 
not  justify,  for  justification,  which  always  in- 
cludes   regeneration,    accompanies    choice,    and 

51 


Regeneration 

choice  is  based  "iipon  faith,  and  without  saving 
faith  no  true  choice  of  Jesus  Christ  is  ever  made. 

Our  self-abhorrence  on  account  of  our  sinful 
nature  will  probably  be  stronger  when  our  experi- 
ence in  attempting  to  ward  o2  the  approaches  of 
sin  is  more  mature.  That  is  theological  language, 
often  used  for  rhetorical  effect,  which  describes  the 
soul  newly  born  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  as 
just  convulsed  with  hatred  of  sin  of  every  type  and 
in  every  form.  The  same  kind  of  language  is 
used  for  the  same  purpose  in  describing  this  same 
soul  as  utterly  consumed  with  a  fervid  love  for 
the  Saviour.  It  is  a  newly-born  soul,  a  babe  in 
Christ.  N^o  such  hatred  for  sin  is  usually  experi- 
enced, no  such  love  for  Christ  or  his  church  or 
his  people,  and  unless  one  is  capable  of  changing 
theological  and  rhetorical  language  into  the  lan- 
guage of  experience,  there  is  only  one  of  two  con- 
clusions possible:  either  the  description  of  the 
change  in  conversion  is  false,  or  there  is  some  rad- 
ical deficiency  in  our  experience. 

The  situation  is  quite  different  from  that  de- 
scribed by  thoughtless  ministers  and  enthusiastic 
lajrmen.  If  the  babe  in  Christ  has  such  a  tre- 
mendous hatred  for  sin,  how  does  it  come  that 

52 


Regeneration 

after  he  has  grown  up  to  the  full  stature  of  a  man 
in  Christ  Jesus  he  has  so  precious  little  of  it  ?  If 
one-fourth  of  the  people  who  were  genuinely  con- 
verted tv/enty  years  ago  really  had  in  their  hearts 
the  hatred  for  sin  which  many  of  them  demand 
that  the  present-day  penitent  shall  experience  im- 
mediately upon  his  conversion,  the  millennium 
would  dawn  at  once.  And  if,  on  the  other  hand, 
their  own  hearts  were  really  aglow  with  that  fervid 
flame  of  love  which  they  so  glibly  attribute  in  fig- 
urative language  to  the  experience  of  the  newly 
converted,  and  to  their  own,  the  world  would  have 
been  evangelized  long  ago,  or  at  least  there  would 
have  been  a  better  effort  made.  But  they  have  no 
such  hatred,  no  such  love,  and  never  had.  They 
have  had  a  glorious  sense  of  God's  presence  in  a 
keenly  experienced  sense  of  joy;  they  have  felt 
the  quickening  thrill  of  his  Spirit,  and  the  hard 
lines  of  hatred  and  love  dissolving;  but  that  ab- 
rupt, radical,  and  unqualified  exchange  of  the 
things  they  loved  and  hated,  never.  The  word 
"love"  has  been  used  in  the  ordinary  sense  usually 
given  it. 

The  truth  is  evident.    Eegeneration  does  regen- 
erate the  whole  man.    Our  faculties  cannot  be  so 

53 


Regeneration 

dissociated  as  to  allow  one  to  be  renewed  and  an- 
other not.  The  mind  is  to  be  illuminated,  the 
eyes  of  the  understanding  opened,  the  heart  re- 
newed, the  will  conquered,  and  the  man  made 
willing.  Every  power  and  faculty  is  to  become 
changed  in  "putting  on  the  new  man,"  but  this  is 
a  process  following  conversion  and  its  concomi- 
tants. It  may  very  legitimately  be  called  a  regen- 
eration, but  it  is  the  regeneration  which  is  the 
completion  of  the  "growth  in  grace"  to  which  the 
holy  Word  exhorts  God's  children.  But  that  re- 
generation which  is  the  beginning  of  the  Christian 
life,  and  which  we  have  in  the  main  under  consid- 
eration, finds  its  chief  ground  for  operation  in  the 
human  will.  The  will  being  renewed,  which  is 
the  commander  of  the  citadel,  the  final  arbiter 
among  all  the  so-called  faculties  of  the  soul,  so 
directs  the  powers  over  which  it  presides  as  finally 
to  bring  them  to  a  permanent  victory  over  the 
enemy,  because  into  instinctive  accord  with  Jesus 
Christ.  The  conflict  to  be  waged  by  every  Chris- 
tian goes  on  between  his  sense  of  right  and  his 
choice  of  right,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  re- 
bellious, unsubdued  affectional  nature  on  the 
other.    He  has  given  his  will  to  the  performance 

54 


Regeneration 

of  duty;  he  has  recognized  the  claims  of  o-u-g-h4 
upon  his  moral  nature,  and  he  is  calling  into  line 
every  faculty  refusing  to  perform  duty,  and  com- 
pelling its  cooperation  with  his  purpose.  This  is 
the  field  over  which  the  Christian's  warfare  rages. 
He  is  a  soldier  for  Jesus  Christ,  but  the  battle- 
ground lies  in  himself,  and  the  conflict  goes  on 
between  his  own  evil  desires  and  propensities,  on 
the  one  side,  and  his  new  will  to  do  right,  on  the 
other,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  his  whole  be- 
ing is  said  to  have  been  regenerated,  and  the  other 
fact,  that  upon  this  field  of  combat  are  often  mar- 
shaled the  forces  of  light  and  of  darkness  employ- 
ing the  native  forces  of  the  soul  in  the  dreadful 
conflict. 

Moreover,  the  temptations  of  which  we  speak 
as  threatening  our  fidelity  to  Jesus  Christ,  and 
our  constancy  in  the  religious  faith,  are  the  reg- 
ister of  our  spiritual  renovation,  as  pertaining  to 
the  sensibilities.  But  who  would  venture  to  say 
that  no  one  who  suffers  temptation  is  really  re- 
generated? And  how  could  one  experience  temp- 
tation if  the  sensibilities  had  been  so  completely 
renovated  as  to  leave  no  vestige  of  love  for  things 
sinful,  through  which  an  appeal  might  be  made? 

55 


Regeneration 

If  the  whole  nature  had  been  completely  turned 
to  God  in  regeneration,  so  as  to  produce  an  abso- 
lute hatred  for  things  sinful,  and  an  absolute  love 
for  things  godly,  no  place  would  be  found  for 
temptation.  The  very  facts  of  temptation  and  of 
Christian  warfare  declare  in  most  positive  lan- 
guage that  roots  of  bitterness  do  remain,  and  that 
regeneration  does  not  necessarily  and  immediately 
produce  a  complete  change  of  the  affections  so  that 
the  heart  loves  only  the  godly  and  hates  only  the 
evil. 

They  also  declare  in  the  same  way  that  the 
'^spirit  of  the  mind"  and  the  "will'^  have  under- 
gone a  more  nearly  complete  and  radical  change 
than  anything  else  about  us.  Our  ability  to  know 
has  not  been  changed.  A  dullard  converted  is  still 
a  dullard,  and  just  as  much  of  a  dullard  as  before, 
with  the  single  exception  that  he  has  become  wise 
enough  to  give  himself  to  the  service  of  God. 
.  But  we  are  changed  creatures  when  God's  re- 
generating grace  has  diffused  itself  into  our  being. 
The  spirit  of  the  mind  has  been  renewed,  not  the 
mind;  and  the  will  has  become  sanctified  in  the 
holy  choice  of  God,  not  godly  things;  and  these, 
by  the  cooperating  grace  of  God's  Spirit,  and  the 

56 


Regeneration 

•use  of  the  instrumentalities  appointed  for  exer- 
cise and  growth,  are  to  exhibit  in  the  life  the  fruit- 
age which  naturally  follows  sowing  at  seed-time, 
and  cultivation  thereafter  until  the  maturing  of 
the  full  ear,  according  to  the  will  of  God.  The 
holy  Word  says,  "Son,  give  me  thine  heart,"  and, 
"A  new  heart  also  will  I  give  you."  The  "heart" 
as  used  in  God's  Word  is  the  very  core  of  the  be- 
ing. It  is  the  fountain  from  which  the  affections 
flow,  but  it  is  also  the  point  at  which  the  intellect 
takes  its  stand  of  observation,  and  the  will  exer- 
cises its  dominion  in  response  to  the  needs  of  its 
subjects.  "A  new  heart,"  a  new  purpose,  a  new 
choice,  a  new  determination,  self-impelling,  and 
self -controlling  power,  facing  toward  God,  which 
will  make  dead  your  affections  for  the  world,  and 
call  into  existence  and  manifestation  a  genuine 
love  for  him,  "also  will  I  give  you,"  and  instead 
of  the  vacillating,  drifting  character,  facing  away 
from  God,  that  you  were,  you  will  be  a  new  man 
turned  directly  to  an  opposite  course  of  conduct, 
"and  a  new  spirit  will  I  put  within  you." 

But  regeneration  also  implants  true  love  in  the 
soul.  In  what  seems  contrary  to  this  statement, 
the  word  "love"  has  been  used  in  the  ordinarily 

57 


Regeiieration 

accepted  sense.  Here  it  is  used  in  the  true  scrip- 
tural sense,  in  which  love  is  quite  a  different  thing 
from  affection,  as  naturally  existing  between  par- 
ent and  child,  brother  and  sister,  husband  and 
wife.  If  love  were  this  kind  of  affection,  the  com- 
mand to  love  our  enemies  were  a  command  to  do 
an  impossible  thing,  except  in  theory.  The  third 
time  Jesus  was  manifested  to  the  disciples  after 
he  was  risen,  he  said  to  Peter,  ^^Simon,  son  of 
John,  lovest  thou  me  more  than  these?"  Peter 
evaded  the  question  by  answering,  ^^Yea,  Lord; 
thou  knowest  that  I  have  affection  for  thee." 
After  his  vacillating  course  of  conduct  at  the  be- 
trayal, trial,  and  crucifixion  of  his  Lord,  Peter 
could  not  say  that  he  properly  appreciated  the  re- 
lations which  really  existed  between  him  and 
Jesus,  and  that  he  gave  himself  fully  and  affec- 
tionately to  the  recognition  of  those  relations,  and 
to  the  determination  of  his  course  of  conduct  in 
accord  with  them.  But  this  was  Jesus'  inquiry 
when  he  asked,  "Lovest  thou  me?"  And  this  is 
the  new  love  that  springs  up  in  the  heart,  in  the 
very  core  of  our  being,  in  regeneration.  This  is 
the  love  we  are  enjoined  to  bear  to  our  enemies. 
It  is  the  mark  of  the  "new  creation  in  Christ 

58 


Regeneration 

Jesus,"  and  is  also  the  love  we  are  commanded  to 
exercise  toward  God.  It  is  a  deep-seated  principle 
of  righteousness,  influencing  and  controlling  every 
act  and  motive,  and  is  not  an  emotion  or  an  affec- 
tion. It  finds  its  chief  seat  in  our  volitional  be- 
ing, and  not  in  our  affectional  nature.  Operating 
in  accord  with  our  sense  of  Tightness,  it  is  a 
higher,  holier  thing  than  mere  affection.  It  does 
not  exclude  affection,  for  it  is  all-embracing,  in- 
cluding every  faculty  or  power  of  the  soul,  and  its 
every  possible  operation,  to  restrain  or  incite  unto 
a  recognition  of  God's  claims. 

The  marked  subjective  change  we  had  hoped  to 
experience  in  conversion,  but  did  not,  is  neverthe- 
less an  actual  verity;  yet  we  were  not  directly 
conscious  of  regeneration.  The  fountains  of  our 
being  lie  far  beneath  our  observation.  They  must 
have  been  changed,  for  "Doth  the  fountain  send 
forth  from  the  same  opening  sweet  water  and  bit- 
ter? can  a  fig  tree,  my  brethren^  yield  olives,  or  9 
vine  figs  ?  neither  can  salt  water  yield  sweet  ^ 
The  regenerated  man  is — that  is  all.  What  he  is, 
is  different  from  what  he  was.  It  is  the  being  that 
has  essentially  been  changed,  and  in  its  ultimate 
being  is  indefinable. 

59 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Evidences. 

The  chief  evidences  of  conversion  are:  (1)  A 
genuine  and  deep-seated  choice  of  God.  (2)  An 
absolute  and  solemn  surrender  of  the  will  and  life 
to  God.  (3)  A  constant  and  invincible  deter- 
mination to  overcome  sin  in  one's  self.  (4)  The 
filial  spirit.  (5)  Love  (not  affection)  to  all  men 
and  to  God.     (6)  The  fruits  of  the  Spirit. 

In  these  are  involved  all  those  holy  exercises  of 
the  soul  represented  in  faith  and  repentance  and 
prayer  and  confession  and  obedience.  In  connec- 
tion with  them  are  exercised  forgiveness  and 
cleansing.  And  withal  there  is  strength  for  serv- 
ice which,  if  utilized,  is  followed  by  victory  and 
joy  and  eternal  reward. 

A  deep-seated  choice  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ  de- 
termines one  immediately  for  godliness  as  against 
worldliness.  It  is  a  choice  between  God-sover- 
eignty in  the  moral  nature  and  self -sovereignty ;  a 


Regeneration 

preference  expressed  for  the  spirit  of  grace,  rather 
than  for  the  world-spirit.  For  this  choice  on  the 
part  of  every  man  God  ever  waits.  Upon  its  being 
made  he  bestows  his  special  grace  in  pardon  and 
renewal,  so  that  when  the  choice  is  made  on  man's 
side,  the  blessing  follows  with  certainty  on  the  di- 
vine side. 

The  grace  which  precedes  this  choice,  and  the 
special  grace  of  forgiveness  and  renewal  invariably 
associated  with  it,  are  universal.  The  invitation 
to  accept  Jesus  Christ  as  a  personal  Saviour  comes 
to  every  man.  The  spirit  of  the  atonement  per- 
vades the  universe.  The  invitation  may  come  like 
the  far-off  echoes  of  our  own  heart-stirrings,  or 
under  a  conjunction  of  circumstances  appealing 
so  powerfully  to  the  sense  of  obligation  to  God  as 
to  stir  the  soul  to  its  utmost  depth.  In  any  case, 
the  choice  of  the  subject  is  the  demand  of  his 
Sovereign. 

The  Man  of  Nazareth  came  to  his  own,  and  his 
own  received  him  not.  He  stands  contemplating 
the  holy  city.  It  is  symbolic  of  a  kingdom  and 
a  sovereignty  involving  the  moral  universe.  He 
stretches  out  his  hands — in  blessing?  No,  it  is 
the  gesture  of  address, — and  hear  his  words,  "0 

61 


Regeneration 

Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  which  killeth  the  prophets, 
and  stoneth  them  that  are  sent  unto  her!  how 
often  would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  together, 
even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her 
wings,  and  ye  would  not."  He  willing;  they  un- 
willing. Or  was  it  the  wail  of  an  overwrought 
nervous  system,  chiding  a  not  too  appreciative 
public  ?  ^'Would  not" ;  that  is  the  key  to  the  sit- 
uation— the  wickedness  of  an  unregenerate  will 
expressing  itself  in  an  unholy  choice ;  selfish,  stub- 
born, and  ungodly  in  its  application  of  knowledge, 
and  in  its  determination  of  the  affectional  nature. 
When  invitations  of  heavenly  love,  and  over- 
tures of  divine  compassion,  and  warnings  of  eter- 
nal wrath  appeal  in  vain  to  a  conscience  already 
under  self-condemnation,  but  incapable  of  inspir- 
ing the  choice  upon  which  depends  the  freedom 
born  of  truth,  because  hardened  by  the  deceitful- 
ness  of  sin,  the  strongest  possible  evidence  is  pre- 
sented that  no  regeneration  has  taken  place.  On 
the  other  hand,  when  a  man,  acting  upon  his 
knowledge  of  the  deceitf  ulness  of  sin,  and  his  sense 
of  obligation  to  God,  stirred,  it  may  be,  or  it  may 
not  be,  by  perturbations  of  soul  on  account  of  the 
impending  wrath  of  Jehovah,  chooses  God  with 

62 


Regeneration 

a  preference  that  dominates  his  whole  being,  this 
choice  is  conversion,  and  carries  with  it  faith  and 
repentance  on  his  part,  and  justification  and  re- 
generation on  God's  part.  "Him  that  cometh  to 
me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out."  Such  a  choice,  in- 
volving the  application  of  its  own  law,  is  the  saf- 
est possible  evidence  to  one's  own  consciousness 
that  he  is  regenerated,  though  not  a  testimony  to 
others  until  it  gives  expression  to  itself  in  its  own 
natural  fruit.  This  is  "putting  off  the  old  man," 
and  the  "new  man"  put  in  his  place,  under  this 
choice  and  in  accord  with  its  law,  with  uncovered 
face,  beholding  as  in  a  mirror  the  glory  of  the 
Lord,  is  being  metamorphosed  from  glory  to  glory, 
even  as  from  the  Lord  the  Spirit.  "He  that  will, 
let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely." 

Following  the  choice  of  God,  another  evidence 
of  regeneration  is  found  in  an  absolute  and  solemn 
surrender  of  the  will  and  life  to  God.  Having 
made  such  a  choice,  logically  the  will  of  the  Sov- 
ereign takes  the  place  of  the  will  of  the  subject. 
But  in  every-day,  honest  experience,  this  is  ac- 
complished by  no  single  volition,  or  consecration, 
or  act  of  faith.  We  are  Christians,  yet  are  always 
becoming  Christians.    But  let  it  forever  be  held  in 


Regeneration 

most  confident  assurance,  that  while  the  Christian 
must  grow  in  grace,  and  constantly  be  in  process 
of  becoming  a  Christian,  his  Christian  character 
has  its  beginning  in  a  new  creation  by  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Before  this  new  creation  was  effected  his 
will  was  self-centered;  afterward,  it  is  God-cen- 
tered. Then  there  was  no  recognized  standard  to 
restrain  the  decrees  of  a  capricious  will;  now 
God's  will  is  the  final  gauge  for  every  act,  and  is 
recognized  and  accepted  as  never  before.  Before 
conversion  the  person  did  not  object  to  doing 
God's  will  if  convenient ;  but  afterward  he  directs 
himself  to  do  His  will,  and  His  will  only,  at  any 
sacrifice  of  self,  time,  or  convenience,  and  puts 
upon  himself  the  self-imposed  task  of  guarding 
every  feeling  and  impulse  of  his  being,  refusing 
them  control,  as  formerly,  in  his  life  and  in  his 
acts.  Such  a  surrender  to  a  standard  of  morals, 
imposed  by  an  authority  beyond  one's  self,  to- 
gether with  the  deliberate  choice  of  it  as  the  only 
rule  insuring  safety  and  felicity,  in  both  time  and 
eternity,  is  the  highest  expression  of  faith,  and  is 
to  be  regarded  as  bearing  testimony  to  the  fulfill- 
ment of  conditions  upon  which  the  regenerating 
grace  of  God  is  bestowed  upon  men. 

64 


Regeneration 

The  constant  and  invincible  determination  to 
overcome  sin  in  our  own  hearts  and  lives  in  ac- 
cord with  God^s  purpose,  and  by  his  help,  also 
evidences  the  new  heart.  The  natural  man  loves 
sin.  He  may  oppose  it  in  others,  or  hate  some 
forms  of  sin  which  are  in  contrast  with  those  espe- 
cially adapted  to  his  own  personal  tastes  or  habits, 
but  he  does  not  hate  sin  because  it  is  sin,  nor  does 
he  oppose  all  sin  in  himself,  nor  does  he  seek  to 
be  rid  of  every  sin.  Such  opposition  to  sin  is  of 
heavenly  birth,  and  the  Spirit-born  man  despises 
sin.  He  opposes  it  in  others,  but  not  nearly  so 
much  as  in  himself.  He  deplores  the  insincerity 
beneath  the  gilded  surface  of  society,  and  stands 
abhorrent  when  the  deeply-hidden  lakes  of  in- 
iquity once  in  a  while  are  uncovered,  but  with 
double  care,  lest  in  himself  like  sin  abide,  he 
scrutinizes  and  calls  into  account  every  personal 
act  and  impulse  and  motive,  with  a  severity  he 
would  not  think  for  a  moment  to  use  in  dealing 
with  others.  He  sees  himself  a  sinner,  but  a  re- 
deemed sinner,  to  be  made  perfect  in  Christ.  And 
from  this  state  of  mind,  conviction  as  to  duty, 
and  an  appreciation  of  privileges,  are  not  far  re- 
moved. 

5  65 


Begeneration 

The  filial  spirit  recognizes  God  as  a  Father, 
who,  in  love  and  wisdom,  places  upon  his  children 
the  restraint  of  his  moral  laws  and  their  concur- 
ring penalties,  and  bestows  unmeasured  blessings 
upon  them  in  his  arrangements  for  their  life  ever- 
lasting. It  does  more  than  merely  recognize  the 
fatherhood  of  God;  it  discovers  the  Father. 
Deeply  imbedded  in  the  soul,  it  is  that  teachable 
spirit  which  so  charmingly  becomes  the  child,  and 
so  distinctively  appreciates  the  Father's  love  as 
being  bestowed  in  infinite  wisdom,  supreme  intel- 
ligence, and  unselfish  devotion  to  righteous  moral 
government.  It  lives  in  the  atmosphere  of  con- 
fession and  obedience  and  reconciliation,  and  at- 
tests the  restoration  and  companionship  which 
open  all  the  treasures  and  powers  of  sonship.  It 
affords  perfect  harmony  and  oneness  with  God, 
that  concord  of  spirit  essential  to  communion  and 
communication. 

To  have  this  filial  spirit  in  relation  to  God  is  to 
have  the  spirit  of  the  child  of  God,  which  guaran- 
tees that  constant  obedience  never  rendered  by  one 
in  the  unrenewed  state,  and  concerning  the  spirit 
of  which  God  declares,  "Behold,  to  obey  is  better 
than  sacrifice,  and  to  hearken  than  the  fat  of 


Regeneration 

rams/'  It  allows  no  conscious  disobedience,  tliat 
most  subtle  encroachment  upon  the  spiritual  well- 
being.  For  disobedience  is  the  immediate  cause  of 
all  alienation  from  God.  It  has  been  disastrous 
to  the  race  from  Eden  until  now.  ISTor  does  only 
a  violent  rejection  of  God's  commands  fill  the 
heart  with  the  spirit  of  estrangement.  As  the 
least  sin  is  damnable,  so  the  smallest  transgression 
in  which  one  may  indulge  blunts  the  conscience 
and  chills  the  heart  and  contributes  to  indecision 
of  will  and  vacillation  of  purpose.  For  often  in 
one  little  sin  are  many  great  ones;  and  many  a 
man  who  counts  himself  a  Christian  exposes  him- 
self to  greater  dangers  by  daily  committing  small 
pieces  of  questionable  business  transactions  than 
are  those  threatening  him  from  all  other  direc- 
tions. "The  worst  sin  is  not  some  outburst  of 
gross  transgression,  forming  an  exception  to  the 
ordinary  tenor  of  a  life,  bad  and  dismal  as  such 
a  sin  is ;  but  the  worst  and  most  fatal  are  the  small 
continuous  vices  which  root  underground  and 
honeycomb  the  soul."  The  solemn  denunciation 
of  God  is,  "Cursed  be  he  that  confirmeth  not  the 
words  of  this  law  to  do  them." 
But  the  filial  spirit  of  obedience  is  the  spirit 

67 


Begeneration 

of  the  child  that  loves;  and  love  is  brought  into 
existence  by  the  quickening  action  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  It  is  the  bond  of  communion,  and  he  in 
communion  with  God  ^'^cannot  sin  because  he  is 
begotten  of  God."  It  denies  the  small  vice  as  well 
as  the  great  crime,  and  preserves  a  tender  recogni- 
tion of  every  divine  claim.  It  is  the  most  beau- 
tiful mark  of  the  precious  relationship  between  the 
Father  and  the  saved  soul.  "For  as  many  as  are 
led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  these  are  sons  of  God." 
"And  because  ye  are  sons,  God  hath  sent  forth  the 
Spirit  of  his  Son  into  your  hearts,  crying,  Abba, 
Father." 

The  ability  to  love  all  men,  even  our  enemies, 
attests  a  condition  of  heart  not  found  in  the  nat- 
ural man.  x\s  an  evidence,  this  is  more  trust- 
worthy than  is  a  sentimental  feeling  of  love  to 
God.  It  is  easy  to  wheedle  one's  self  into  the  no- 
tion that  he  loves  God.  He  seems  far  away.  Sin 
is  very  deceitful.  But  our  fellows !  They  are  in 
our  conscious  presence,  and  speak  back  to  us.  We 
are  not  so  readily  led  to  believe  that  we  love  them 
when  we  really  do  not.  "He  that  loveth  his 
brother  abideth  in  the  light.  .  .  .  But  he  that 
hateth  his  brother  is  in  the  darkness."     "For  he 


Regeneration 

that  loveth  not  his  brother  whom  he  hath  seen, 
cannot  love  God  whom  he  hath  not  seen.  And 
this  commandment  have  we  from  him,  that  he  who 
loveth  God  love  his  brother  also."  Who  is  one's 
brother  ? 

It  is  easy  enough  to  love  those  to  whom  we  are 
attached  by  the  bonds  of  affection,  but  the  holy  in- 
junction is,  "Love  your  enemies,  and  pray  for 
them  that  persecute  you."  God  exercises  such  a 
spirit  to  a  rebellious  world  lying  in  sin.  "For  if 
ye  love  them  that  love  you,  what  reward  have  ye  ? 
do  not  even  the  publicans  the  same?  And  if  ye 
salute  your  brethren  only,  what  do  ye  more  than 
others?  do  not  even  the  Gentiles  the  same?  Ye 
therefore  shall  be  perfect,  as  your  heavenly  Fa- 
ther is  perfect."  Here  it  is  evidently  claimed  that 
the  follower  of  Jesus  Christ  can  do  more,  and  go 
further,  in  the  exercise  of  love,  than  the  publican 
or  the  Gentile.  To  some  degree  he  is  like  God, 
and  God's  love  is  no  respecter  of  persons.  To  love 
only  where  the  natural  affections  center  is  to  love 
only  as  the  common  sinner  loves.  If  one  loves 
as  the  common  sinner  does  not,  and  cannot  love, 
he  is  something  which  differentiates  him  from  the 
other. 


69 


Regeneration 

In  relation  to  our  enemies,  the  Golden  Enle  is 
the  interpretation  of  this  love.  It  is  therefore 
under  our  direction,  as  a  holy  principle  of  right- 
eousness. It  does  not  spring  up  from  the  sub- 
conscious self  a  spontaneous  product,  of  which  the 
first  intimation  of  its  existence  is  its  presence, 
^or  does  it  demand,  as  necessary  to  its  exercise, 
the  marked  presence  of  that  natural  affection 
which  rightfully  exists  between  chosen  compan- 
ions or  relatives.  But  it  may  ask  for  ministry 
where  natural  affection  enters  protest.  Such 
might  be  the  case  should  natural  affection  for  our 
own  children,  divinely  implanted,  and  right  in  a 
controlled  degree,  restrain  us  from  exercising  jus- 
tice and  benevolence  to  others.  "What  is  written 
in  the  law?  how  readest  thou?  And  he  answer- 
ing said.  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with 
all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all 
thy  strength,  and  with  all  thy  mind:  and  thy 
neighbour  as  thyself.  And  he  said  unto  him,  Thou 
hast  answered  right :  this  do,  and  thou  shalt  live." 

The  final  evidence  mentioned  is  "the  fruit  of 
the  Spirit,"  which  is  "love,  joy,  peace,  longsuffer- 
ing,  kindness,  goodness,  faithfulness,  meekness, 
temperance:  against  such  there  is  no  law.     And 

70 


Regeneration 

they  that  are  of  Christ  Jesus  have  crucified  the 
flesh  with  the  passions  and  lusts  thereof."  This 
fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  the  moral  result  which  the 
Holy  Spirit  brings  about  by  his  abiding  and  nur- 
turing presence.  The  graces  named  as  the  fruit  of 
the  Spirit  are  the  natural  accompaniment  of  the 
life  of  communion  and  communication  with  God, 
and  are  the  distinguishing  marks  of  the  specific- 
ally Christian  character.  As  the  fruit  of  the  vine 
is  the  highest  expression  of  the  fruit-vine  life,  so 
is  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  the  highest  expression  of 
the  Holy  Spirit's  indwelling  presence. 

But  there  are  many  commendable  traits  and 
pious  exercises  which  have  no  claim  to  classifica- 
tion with  the  graces  which  are  the  fruit  of  the 
Spirit.  They  may  arise  from  sources  with  which 
the  Holy  Spirit  has  little  or  nothing  to  do.  The 
deep  springs  controlling  motives  and  determining 
the  moral  shadings  of  the  outward  act  must  be 
under  his  control  and  find  in  him  their  source. 
Humane  acts,  hatred  to  sin,  delight  in  the  Bible, 
almsgiving,  observance  of  church  ordinances,  zeal 
for  religion  or  the  church  or  benevolent  societies, 
tenderheartedness,  the  giving  of  one's  self  to 
prayer  and  intercession,  may  all  arise  from  other 

71 


Regeneration 

sources.  One  may  even  exhibit  patience  in  tribu- 
lation and  pleasure  at  the  prosperity  of  religion, 
or  suffer  persecution  for  religion's  sake,  be  will- 
ing to  die  the  mart3T's  death,  and  have  a  strong 
hope  of  heaven,  enjoy  a  reputation  for  piety  and 
prophesy  in  Christ's  name,  and  yet  be  far  from  the 
possession  of  the  graces  designated  as  the  fruit  of 
the  Spirit.  These  graces  follow  the  crucifixion  of 
"the  flesh  with  the  passions  and  lusts  thereof," 
and  are  the  qualities  of  character  which  character- 
ize the  "new  man"  begotten  in  holiness.  They  are 
all  subject  to  the  limitations  incident  to  the  fitful 
human  instrument  in  which  they  are  born,  but 
when  genuine  they  are  definite  witnesses  to  the 
new  life-principle  characteristic  of  the  sons  of 
God.  Combined,  they  present  the  perfect  stature 
of  him  "that  walketh  in  a  perfect  way."  And 
since  "a£  many  as  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God, 
they  are  the  sons  of  God,"  they  prove  the  leadings 
of  God's  Spirit. 

The  counterfeit  is  to  be  guarded  against.  To 
possess  it  instead  of  the  real  must  work  to  our 
eternal  undoing.  The  instinct  of  fruit-bearing  is 
a  native  quality  of  the  vine.  The  Holy  Spirit  is 
the  fruit-bearer  in  us.    Apart  from  him  there  are 

72 


Regeneration 

in  us  no  instincts  of  fruit-bearing  as  represented 
in  the  graces  mentioned  as  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit. 
Apart  from  Jesus  Christ  our  course  of  moral  be- 
ing flows  on  in  separation  from  God.  But  the 
Spirit  represents  the  Christ,  and  was  sent  to  brood 
over  the  hearts  of  such  as  would  give  him  a  place, 
to  warm  them  into  the  life  through  which  he  gives 
expression  of  himself  to  the  world.  Under  his 
immanent  presence  the  whole  course  of  life  pur- 
sued by  the  child  of  God  is  wrought  out.  He  in- 
stills the  idea  of  the  heavenly  life,  and  guards 
the  path  and  guides  the  feet  of  the  pilgrim  in 
process  of  attainment. 

But  our  hearts  linger.  A  most  serious  and 
practical  question  arises.  After  all,  what  is  my 
assurance  of  salvation?  How  shall  I  unerringly 
interpret  evidences  of  my  acceptance?  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  only  certainty  of  our  salvation.  The 
heart  reaches  out  to  him  in  faith,  and  if  faith  is 
strong  enough  to  carry  the  weight,  assurance  re- 
turns on  its  support  the  answer  of  heaven's  love. 
But  no  one  may  tell  another  how  he  may  gain  the 
assurance  of  his  acceptance  with  God  so  as  to  pre- 
clude the  possibility  of  doubt,  and  no  one  may 
receive  solely  from  another's  presentation  that  ap- 

73 


Regeneration 

plication  of  the  truth  which  puts  the  soul  at  rest. 
That  he  must  seek  and  find  in  his  own  way  in  a 
privacy  with  which  no  one  may  intermeddle. 

A  satisfactory  assurance  is  the  proper  privilege 
of  all  who  have  turned  to  the  Lord  with  full  pur- 
pose of  heart.  But  let  us  distinguish  between  as- 
surance of  the  objective  reality  of  the  spirit-world 
and  the  consciousness  of  forgiveness.  That  may 
come  as  an  immediate  accompaniment  of  conver- 
sion, while  this  may  remain  to  be  found  in  read- 
ing and  applying  the  divine  Word,  in  leading  the 
prayer-life,  and  in  the  scrupulous  discharge  of 
duty.  After  the  wonderful  phenomena  attending 
Paul's  conversion,  one  would  think  no  question 
could  ever  arise  in  the  apostle's  mind  as  to  the  final 
outcome  of  his  religious  life.  He  was  sure  the 
Lord  spoke  to  him,  and  he  was  convinced  of  his 
Messiahship.  After  three  years  of  retirement  and 
self -consecrating  prayer  and  communion,  the  serv- 
ice he  rendered  to  his  newly  found  Master  was  un- 
remitting. He  saw  visions.  He  met  every  de- 
mand of  his  conscience.  He  saw  the  Spirit  fall  on 
them  who  heard  his  message.  He  suffered  the  dis- 
pleasure of  his  brethren,  and  endured  chains  and 
imprisonment.    He  rejoiced  to  be  counted  worthy 

74 


Regeneration 

to  suffer  for  the  Name.  He  knew  whom  he  be- 
lieved and  was  persuaded  that  he  was  able  to  guard 
that  which  he  had  committed  to  him  against  that 
day.  He  was  even  caught  up  into  the  third  heaven 
and  saw  what  was  not  lawful  to  be  communicated. 
And  yet  his  assurance  was  not  of  such  a  charac- 
ter as  to  relieve  him  altogether  from  fluctuations 
and  self -watch  lest  he  should  be  found  a  castaway. 
The  treasure  is  in  earthen  vessels.  We  have  a 
thousand  limitations  to  forbid  the  finding  of  abso- 
lute testimony  within  ourselves.  Not  often  may 
our  warfare  completely  vanquish  old  lusts  and 
appetites  regarded  sinful.  Doubts  arise  and  be- 
cloud our  faith,  and  the  promises  of  peace  vanish. 
Many  persons  living  the  Christian  life  are  un- 
happy because  they  too  exclusively  seek  to  find  in 
themselves  evidences  of  acceptance  and  forgive- 
ness. But  there  are  always  two  of  us,  and  while 
one  consents  the  other  questions,  so  that  we  seek 
in  vain  within  ourselves  to  find  anything  absolute 
to  compel  us  into  peace.  We  cannot  be  conscious 
of  the  act  of  forgiveness.  That  is  with  the  Fa- 
ther. We  are  only  conscious  of  being  in  the  state 
in  which  one  is  who  is  forgiven;  but  we  are  not 
always  conscious  of  the  state  in  which  we  are. 

75 


Regeneration 

Our  only  hope  lies  beyond  ourselves.  "Have  faith 
in  God."  The  kingdom  of  Christ  cannot  fail. 
Christ  has  made  himself  immanent  in  humanity. 
In  the  surety  of  truth  he  has  become  our  Saviour. 
''In  him  was- life;  and  the  life  was  the  light  of 
men.  .  .  .  But  as  many  as  received  him,  to 
them  gave  ho  the  right  to  become  children  of  God, 
even  to  them  that  believe  on  his  name."  All  we 
can  do  is  to  make  a  complete  consecration  of  mind 
and  heart  and  body,  of  possessions  and  place  in  so- 
ciety, to  the  Lord's  Christ,  and  for  the  same  pur- 
poses for  which  he  came  into  the  world,  and  let 
him  accept  the  consecration  as  he  sees  fit,  to  make 
the  vessel  unto  honor,  or  unto  dishonor.  To  trust 
him  is  the  heavenly  frame  of  mind  in  which  we 
rise  to  heights  to  sing  victorious  songs,  while  mes- 
sengers of  peace  attend. 

Full  assurance  is  the  Christian's  victory.  There 
is  peace  in  believing  and  fullness  of  joy  that  are 
heaven  begun.  There  is  a  consummation  in  the  re- 
generate life  which  involves  the  constant  mani- 
fest presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  uniting  the  soul 
to  heaven  itself,  into  whose  communion  the  child 
of  God  is  brought  through  faith  and  oneness  of 
spirit.     And  let  no  one  fret  himself  because  he 

76 


Regeneration 

does  not  experience  full  assurance;  but  let  him 
seek  to  do  better  service,  and  to  make  a  more  com- 
plete surrender ;  and  in  the  maturing  of  his  Chris- 
tian character,  when  he  has  been  too  much  ab- 
sorbed in  service  to  look  for  assurance,  he  will 
discover  within  himself  a  certainty,  the  precious- 
ness  of  which  is  beyond  computation. 


77 


CHAPTER  X. 
Child  Conveesion". 

The  conversion  of  children  can  hardly  be  con- 
sidered without  including  some  things  which  have 
a  general  bearing  upon  the  religion  of  childhood 
and  youth.  As  has  been  largely  done  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapters,  so  here  no  effort  is  made  to  fol- 
low theological  distinctions.  The  primary  thought 
is  in  accord  with  the  query  always  arising  as  to 
the  way  in  which  God  regards  the  child,  taking 
into  consideration  his  attitude  to  the  race  as  shown 
in  the  plan  of  redemption,  as  well  as  the  practical 
results  following  the  conversion  of  children. 

What,  then,  is  the  status  of  the  child  in  the 
kingdom  of  grace?  The  answer  to  this  question 
must  largely  be  founded  upon  inferences  drawn 
from  statements  made  in  the  Bible.  We  may 
justly  infer  that  the  child  was  included  in  God's 
pconomy  of  grace  under  the  old  dispensation  from 
the  fact  that  in  the  Old  Testament  the  parents 

■78 


Regeneration 

were  required  to  teach  their  children  in  regard  to 
God's  dealings  with  his  people,  and  also  in  refer- 
ence to  the  significance  of  the  more  prominent 
occasions  of  the  ecclesiastical  year.  The  injunc- 
tions given  are  represented  in  the  statement, 
"Make  them  known  unto  thy  children  and  thy 
children's  children/'  And  the  recorded  instances 
of  specific  religious  instruction  given  in  very  early 
life  warrant  the  conclusions  that  this  instruction 
was  to  be  given  in  real  childhood,  and  that  such 
children  were  capable  of  receiving  the  informa- 
tion contemplated. 

In  the  New  Testament,  the  Saviour  sets  a  stand- 
ard with  reference  to  ambitious  rivalry,  in  the  lit- 
tle child  which  he  set  in  the  midst  of  his  disciples, 
and  afterward  took  in  his  arms.  He  declared  that 
they  should  not  only  not  be  preeminent  in  his 
kingdom,  but  also  that  they  should  not  even  be 
admitted,  unless  they  became  as  the  child.  "Ex- 
cept ye  turn,  and  become  as  little  children,  ye 
shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 
And  then  he  points  out  the  way  to  preeminence 
by  saying,  "Whosoever  therefore  shall  humble  him- 
self as  this  little  child,  the  same  is  the  greatest 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven."    And,  further,  he  in- 

79 


Regeneration 

dicates  the  honor  in  which  children  are  held  in 
his  heavenly  kingdom  by  solemnly  declaring  that 
whoever  serves  the  little  child  as  belonging  to  him, 
serves  him.  "And  whosoever  shall  receive  one  such 
little  child  in  my  name  receiveth  me."  Then  he 
pronounces  the  formal  warning  which  we  all  need 
to  consider,  "But  whoso  shall  cause  one  of  these 
little  ones  ...  to  stumble,  it  is  profitable  for 
him  that  a  great  millstone  should  be  hanged  about 
his  neck,  and  that  he  should  be  sunk  in  the  depth 
of  the  sea."  This  language  of  the  Saviour,  with- 
out violence,  will  at  least  permit  the  inferences 
that  the  little  child  is  under  such  favor  of  God 
as  to  be  in  a  saved  state,  and  that  it  can  be  so  re- 
garded, whatever  is  its  capability  of  knowing,  or 
of  understanding,  or  of  exercising  faith,  or  of 
making  theological  distinctions.  The  scope  of  his 
language  seems  rather  wide  to  compel  its  limi- 
tations to  the  single  error  of  ambitious  rivalry. 
It  rather  suggests  the  truth  in  general,  in  relation 
to  the  relative  recognition  of  these  two  classes  in 
the  kingdom  of  grace. 

At  the  full  inauguration  of  the  later  dispensa- 
tion, when  it  seemed  evident  that  a  new  order  of 
the  kingdom  was  in  manifestation,  and  that  they 

80 


Regeneration 

must  seek  adjustment,  they  said :  "Brethren,  what 
shall  we  do  ?  And  Peter  said  unto  them.  Repent 
ye,  and  be  baptized  every  one  of  you  into  the  name 
of  Jesus  Christ  unto  the  remission  of  your  sins; 
and  ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
For  to  you  is  the  promise,  and  to  your  children, 
and  to  all  that  are  afar  off,  even  as  many  as  the 
Lord  our  God  shall  call  unto  him."  If  the  chil- 
dren to  whom  the  promise  is  included  are  to  be 
regarded  merely  as  the  descendants  of  those  to 
whom  he  spoke,  the  class  would  still  include  the 
small  children.  And  after  such  recognition  as 
Jesus  gave  to  the  little  child,  such  an  inclusion 
we  are  almost  compelled  to  allow. 

This  teaching  gives  the  small  child  a  peculiar 
place  in  the  dispensation  of  grace.  It  marks  as 
groundless  that  theological  hair-splitting  which 
requires  so  much  of  transmitted  piety,  and  so 
many  years  of  the  fostering  care  of  the  church  be- 
fore the  child  can  be  regarded  as  in  a  saved  state. 
The  fair  inference  is  that  by  the  grace  of  God  it 
is  a  member  of  Christ's  family  before  any  definite 
act  under  its  own  conscious  direction  has  had  any- 
thing to  do  with  the  determination  of  its  relations. 
Not  having  as  yet  chosen  evil  or  committed  actual 

6  81 


Regeneration  * 

transgression,  it  is  a  child  of  the  kingdom,  not- 
withstanding its  Adamic  nature.  And,  if  so,  the 
atonement  must  have  restored  to  the  race  what  was 
lost  in  the  Adamic  transgression,  except  what  is 
included  in  the  absence  of  the  natural  moral  bent 
or  tendency  to  evil,  which  we  know  by  experience 
and  observation  now  to  be  ever-present;  and  God 
must  not  count  this  tendency  sin  until  it  identifies 
itself  in  actual  transgression. 

Then  how  does  the  child  become  degenerate  and 
lose  the  honor  in  which  it  is  held  in  the  kingdom 
of  heaven?  It  is  now  in  a  saved  state.  It  also 
possesses  in  its  nature  the  tendency  to  evil.  As  it 
advances  toward  physical  and  mental  maturity  it 
also  awakes  into  a  moral  and  spiritual  conscious- 
ness. The  sense  of  right  and  wrong  awakes  and 
imposes  responsibility.  The  tendency  to  evil  in- 
vites to  a  choice  of  evil,  and  the  conscious  choice 
of  evil  in  violation  of  the  sense  of  right  is  sin, 
and  "sin  when  it  is  full-grown,  bringeth  forth 
death." 

Can  the  steps  leading  astray  be  retraced?  It 
would  seem  reasonable  to  assume  that  when  a  child 
arrives  at  an  age  and  a  degree  of  intelligence  mak- 
ing it  capable  of  choices  and  acts  involving  a 

82 


Regeneration 

change  of  relationship  to  God,  and  causing  it  to 
enter  the  lost  state,  it  has  at  the  same  time  arrived 
at  a  sufficient  degree  of  development  to  receive  the 
instruction  and  to  make  the  choice  involving  its 
restoration  to  its  former  state  and  citizenship  in 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  If  this  is  not  the  case, 
then  there  is  a  period  of  longer  or  shorter  duration 
in  every  child's  life  when,  if  it  should  die,  it  must 
forever  be  doomed  to  separation  from  God.  With- 
out doubt  the  real  situation  is  this :  Every  child 
is,  in  its  earliest  life,  in  a  saved  state  by  virtue  of 
the  atonement  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  remains  so  un- 
til by  its  own  transgression  and  choice  it  forfeits 
God's  saving  grace  and  becomes  a  prodigal.  When 
sufficiently  advanced  in  spiritual  discernment  to 
be  capable  of  becoming  a  prodigal,  it  is  also  sus- 
ceptible to  instruction  and  capable  of  making 
choice,  to  a  degree  sufficient  to  enable  it  to  return 
to  the  Father's  house.  Whatever  knowledge  is 
necessary  to  such  a  return  may  be  attained.  What- 
ever faith  is  necessary  can  be  exercised.  What- 
ever choice  is  required  can  be  made.  In  short, 
there  is  no  lack  of  capability  on  the  part  of  the 
child  itself  at  any  period  to  debar  it  from  the  sav- 
ing grace  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus. 


Regeneration 

What  instruction,  then,  shall  be  given  the  child, 
and  when  ?  If  the  psychologist  can  successfully 
instruct  the  child  while  asleep  in  regard  to  proper 
conduct  when  awake,  instruction  as  to  spiritual 
verities  and  moral  rectitude  may  in  like  manner 
be  efficiently  given  before  the  conscience  and  the 
moral  endowments  have  fully  awakened.  The 
world  of  the  child  in  the  crib  is  exceedingly  lim- 
ited, but  the  mother  repeats  in  sweet  tones  the 
lullaby  of  her  love,  and  the  babe  soon  learns  to 
recognize  it.  i!^ot  very  long  will  the  limitations 
of  infancy  forbid  the  recognition  of  the  love-tones 
in  the  story  of  Jesus  the  Saviour.  And  as  the 
powers  of  recognition  gain  ground,  things  known 
will  be  joined  to  things  unknown  by  royal  avenues 
for  imagination  and  inquiry.  When  to  the  won- 
dering eyes  of  the  little  one  the  moon  is  a  ball  of 
fire  hung  high  in  the  skies,  he  will  hear  with  relish 
of  the  Father  in  heaven  beyond  the  moon  and  be- 
yond the  sun.  His  comprehension  is  circum- 
scribed, but  instinctively  the  heart  will  stand  in 
awe  before  the  mystery,  and  the  God-idea  will  en- 
ter the  child-mind,  henceforth  to  remain  as  a  fac- 
tor in  the  constructive  process  of  its  development. 
From  babyhood,  the  facts  of  religion  must  be 

84 


Regeneration 

taught,  and  we  must  cease  to  hesitate  lest  the  time 
of  incipient  apprehension  be  too  early,  and  begin 
to  fear  lest  already  it  be  late  to  make  the  im- 
pression by  instruction  which  will  abide  to  deter- 
mine the  conscious  choice  of  God  in  the  years  to 
come. 

The  child  has  everything  to  learn.  What  he 
will  learn  as  to  religion  depends  largely  upon  the 
faithfulness  with  which  parents  and  teachers  meet 
their  responsibility  in  the  matter.  He  is  to  be 
taught  to  think  of  God  and  led  to  know  him,  and 
prepared  for  a  place  in  the  church  and  in  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.  And  if  the  soul  is  immortal  and 
its  destiny  dependent,  so  far  as  his  ability  to  de- 
termine it  is  concerned,  upon  right  choices  and 
acts,  the  instruction  necessary  to  such  a  course  of 
conduct  is  vastly  more  important  than  is  that 
which  prepares  for  society  and  business. 

The  philosophy  of  religion  has  no  place  in  the 
religious  instruction  appropriate  to  this  period  of 
life.  A  knowledge  of  the  questions  of  theology  is 
not  necessary  to  an  acceptance  of  Jesus  Christ, 
but  a  knowledge  of  the  cardinal  facts  of  redemp- 
tion is  vital.  To  know  that  God  is  Father,  and 
that  Jesus  is  Saviour,  and  that  the  Holy  Spirit 

85 


Regeneration 

lives  in  him  who  chooses  to  be  and  to  do  what  he 
would  have  him  be  and  do,  is  enough  to  furnish 
a  basis  for  a  beautiful  confidence  and  a  loving  ac- 
ceptance of  the  dear  Saviour.  Besides,  the  natural 
order  of  the  mind  is  first  to  find  "the  what/'  and 
later,  "the  why."  It  is  easier  to  accept  a  fact  as 
truth  than  it  is  to  determine  why  it  is  truth. 

But  the  facts  of  redemption  are  to  be  impressed 
upon  the  child  not  merely  as  abstract  truth.  Th^ 
are  constantly  to  appear  as  standing  in  relation  to 
himself.  The  Father  in  heaven  is  his  father.  The 
love  of  Jesus  includes  him.  The  Holy  Spirit 
broods  over  him.  He  is  not  a  great  sinner  outside 
the  covenant  of  grace,  urged  to  turn  to  God  by  ac- 
cepting Jesus  as  his  personal  Saviour,  but  never 
to  be  regarded  as  having  done  so.  He  is  a  sinner 
when  he  has  committed  sin,  but  he  is  a  saved  sin- 
ner when  in  penitence  he  turns  to  the  Father.  He 
is  to  know  that  God  is  a  loving  Heavenly  Father, 
just,  but  not  far  away,  angry,  or  waiting  to  de- 
stroy; and  that  Jesus  counts  on  him,  and  expects 
him  to  choose  the  right  and  refuse  all  wrong,  and 
to  depend  upon  him. 

He  is  not  to  be  taught  to  expect  some  great 
moral  transformation  consciously  taking  place,  or 

8G 


Regeneration 

some  strikingly  conscious  spiritual  exercise  of  the 
mind,  before  God  accepts  him.  Language  that 
leads  to  unwarranted  expectations  must  always  be 
guarded  against,  for  expectations  not  realized  lead 
to  distrust.  The  child^s  accepting  Jesus  as  his 
personal  Saviour  is  a  simple  process  of  faith, 
which,  in  any  event,  we  could  hardly  expect  to  be 
attended  by  a  complex  and  well-defined  experi- 
ence. In  all  probability  his  chief  experience  will 
be  included  in  his  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  he 
has  determined  to  do  and  to  be  what  Jesus  wants 
him  to  do  and  be.  The  profounder  depths  of  per- 
sonal experience  vouchsafed  to  the  saint  of  God 
will  accompany  the  maturity  of  his  consecration 
and  service,  when  from  other  standpoints  than 
those  from  which  he  now  sees  things,  he  shall  be- 
hold the  depths  of  sin  from  which  he  has  been 
saved,  and  the  significance  of  life's  brief  day; 
when  he  has  learned  to  appreciate  the  unbounded. 
love  of  Jehovah  and  to  taste  the  powers  of  the  life 
to  come. 

The  end  of  all  instruction  is  to  lead  to  an  ac- 
ceptance of  Jesus  Christ,  or  to  edification  when  he 
has  already  been  accepted.  And  this  we  must  ex- 
pect the  instruction  which  presents  God's  truth  to 

87 


Regeneration 

accomplish  in  the  child-heart  to  a  very  much 
greater  degree  than  in  the  adult.  In  these  sus- 
ceptible and  teachable  years  we  are  to  expect  the 
sown  seed  of  truth  to  spring  up  immediately  pre- 
paratory to  the  later  harvest.  As  the  facts  of  re- 
demption become  realities  to  the  child-heart  they 
are  at  once  accepted  with  a  fullness  and  a  free- 
dom guaranteeing  their  mastery,  and  the  artless 
confession  goes  up :  "Yes,  I  will  love  Jesus."  "I 
do  want  to  please  him,"  "I  want  him  to  love  me." 
"I  must  be  a  better  Christian."  To  direct  the 
promptings  of  the  heart,  and  to  gain  the  active 
consent  of  the  will,  are  the  highest  ends  of  all 
preaching  and  biblical  teaching.  All  else  is  to  be 
regarded  as  incidental.  For  these  purposes  God 
gave  his  Word,  and  he  declares  with  reference  to 
it,  "It  shall  not  return  unto  me  void,  ...  it 
shall  prosper  in  the  thing  whereto  I  sent  it."  We 
must  confidently  expect  these  highest  ends  to  be 
gained  under  the  direction  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
God's  purpose  to  be  accomplished  according  to  his 
Word.  And  the  church,  and  the  workers  in  it, 
v/ill  no  doubt  succeed  in  holding  the  children, 
from  whose  ranks  the  future  church  is  to  be  gath- 
ered,  in  proportion   to   their   own   faith   in   the 

88 


Regeneration 

immediate  efficiency  of  the  holy  Word,  when  ju- 
diciously presented.  May  we  not  pray  to  be  de- 
livered from  that  round  of  inconsistencies  in  re- 
gard to  the  conversion  of  children,  which,  with 
the  promise  that  Jesus  loves  them,  invites  them  to 
receive  him,  but  when  they  consent  and  accept 
with  an  abandonment  scarcely  to  be  attributed  to 
the  hardened  sinner  in  his  conversion,  repeats  and 
re-repeats  the  process  without  advance. 

The  w^orld  in  which  the  child  lives  is  very  real 
to  him;  but  he  is  living  in  the  learning-period  of 
his  life.  He  expects  to  be  taught,  and  not  to 
teach.  On  this  account  the  instruction  necessary 
to  lead  to  proper  motive  and  choice  and  determina- 
tion and  faith  will  be  more  promptly  and  sincerely 
received  than  in  later  life.  He  already  more 
nearly  possesses  the  spirit  of  Christ  than  he  will 
in  later  unregenerate  life.  He  has  not  yet  gone 
far  away  from  his  Father's  house  in  voluntary 
transgression.  He  is  especially  susceptible  to  re- 
ligious sentiment.  He  most  readily  assents  to 
what  he  believes  God  asks  of  him.  He  is  uncon- 
sciously and  beautifully  teachable.  He  expects 
new  things,  and  they  interest  him.  He  accepts 
new  things,  which  promise  good,  with  relish.    He 


Regeneration 

is  gathering  together  and  absorbing  what  will 
make  him  a  personality,  a  character.  His  sus- 
ceptible heart,  his  unseared  conscience,  his  will 
not  yet  in  bondage  to  habit,  together  with  all  the 
characteristics  of  young  life,  present  the  most 
hopeful  conditions  to  be  found  in  any  period  of 
life.  If  now  he  is  taught  in  the  fear  of  God,  and 
his  response  to  the  instruction  is  taken  by  those 
to  whom  he  looks  for  guidance  as  sincere,  the  pros- 
pect for  a  life  given  to  things  honorable  and  things 
godly  is  most  flattering. 

Tests  taken  in  widely  separated  places,  and  un- 
der various  circumstances,  have  invariably  shown 
that  the  greatest  number  of  professing  Christians 
made  a  public  confession  of  Christ  in  those  years 
just  preceding  maturity  into  manhood  or  woman- 
hood. When  the  earliest  decision  for  Christ  was 
made  by  these,  and  how  many  made  the  early  de- 
cision who  refused  to  make  the  later  confession, 
will  never  be  known.  Nor  have  we  at  hand  the 
means  by  which  to  find  out  how  many  make  the 
the  later  confession  who  never  made  the  early  de- 
cision. But  the  probability  is  that  but  few  turn 
to  Jesus  Christ  in  open  confession,  or  crystallize  a 
character  of  sterling  integrity  into  whose  early  life 

90 


Regeneration 

the  seed-truth  was  not  by  some  hand  sown  to  grow  a 
decision  for  godliness.  The  plain  inference  is  that 
the  most  fruitful  field  toward  which  Christian  ef- 
forts can  be  directed  is  that  in  which  are  found 
the  child  and  the  youth;  but  this  same  period  is 
also  richest  in  opportunity  to  the  kingdom  of 
darkness.  Absolute  victory  here,  in  most  cases, 
means  undisturbed  possession  for  time  and  eter- 
nity. How  fearful  is  the  responsibility  of  par- 
ent and  pastor  and  Sunday-school  teacher. 

Since  as  to  morals  and  religion  the  early  years 
of  life  afford  the  best  opportunities  for  leading  to 
decision,  the  most  untiring  effort  must  be  made  to 
urge  the  choice  and  the  acknowledgement  of  Jesus 
Christ.  But  these  points  will  not  be  gained  at  a 
single  bound.  Earthly  conditions  do  not  afford 
unmixed  good.  N'o  iron  bounds  can  be  set  by  us 
with  all  the  good  on  one  side,  and  all  the  evil  on 
the  other;  but  since  the  religious  status  finds  its 
base  more  in  the  volitional  than  in  the  emotional 
nature,  if  the  choice  and  the  determination  are 
tending  in  the  right  direction,  they  offer  a  hope  of 
final  mastery;  yet  the  young  Christian  cannot  be 
expected  to  feel  and  act  as  if  mature  in  years. 
There  are  some  feelings  demanded  by  thoughtless 

91 


Regeneration 

Christians  as  marks  of  spirituality  which  are  not 
necessarily  religious  at  all.  Some  of  these  are  un- 
natural to  young  life.  Why  should  a  young  Chris- 
tian experience  a  profound  sense  of  the  brevity  of 
life,  or  of  the  imperfection  of  our  righteousness, 
or  of  the  unsatisfying  nature  of  all  things  earthly, 
or  of  the  heinousness  of  sin,  or  of  the  deep  de- 
pravity of  our  natures  ?  He  knows  nothing  of  these 
things.  Life  to  him  is  sweet  and  long,  and  he  has 
not  yet  observed  the  persistence  and  the  destructive 
power  of  sin.  And,  thank  God,  spirituality  does 
not  consist  of  sighs  and  tears  and  lamentations  and 
groans. 

The  religion  of  young  life  has  its  misunder- 
standings and  misconceptions.  It  is  not  always 
found  consistent  with  the  highest  ideals  of  Chris- 
tian perfection;  but  neither  is  that  of  the  adult 
perfect,  though  he  may  be  adept  in  self-control 
and  dissimulation  by  which  to  make  a  better  show- 
ing. Young  life  is  vivacious,  and  eager  for  life's 
pleasures  and  adventures.  It  laughs  and  sees 
through  eyes  beaming  with  merriment.  Its 
shadow-clouds  pass  in  an  instant;  but  its  opti- 
mism is  nearer  the  truth  than  the  pessimism  of 
melancholy,  for  the  world  is  not  a  waste  howling 

92 


Rege7ieratio7i 

wilderness,  and  if  it  were  the  Christian  is  not  in  it 
to  be  devoured. 

The  child  is  in  the  kingdom  of  grace  from  the 
beginning.  The  inherited  tendency  to  evil  con- 
stantly invites  him  to  choose  the  wrong;  but  every 
choice  of  right  and  purpose  to  be  good  and  to  do 
good,  every  sorrow  for  wrong  done  and  petition  put 
up  to  God,  and  confession  of  transgression,  and 
impulse  of  love  to  the  Saviour,  is  a  stepping-stone 
in  the  attainment  of  a  conscious  realization  of  son- 
ship,  as  in  similar  circumstances  with  the  adult. 
With  him  there  probably  is  a  less  definite  con- 
sciousness of  the  complexness  of  the  process.  His 
conversion  takes  place  simply  when  his  choice  is 
determined  for  God,  and  is  fully  as  real  and  genu- 
ine and  as  trustworthy  under  proper  instruction 
as  that  of  others  more  mature.  He  is  a  Christian 
in  all  essentials  if  God  is  chosen,  and  sin  is  striven 
against,  in  faith  and  hope. 

Then  let  the  child  respond  to  his  instruction  in 
repeated  confessions  of  Christ.  When  older,  when 
he  more  fully  knows  what  sin  is,  and  appreciates 
the  right,  he  will  crystallize  the  choice  which  car- 
ries with  it  faith  and  repentance  and  every  con- 
comitant work,  and  will  pass  the  formative  period 

93 


Regeneration 

of  life,  developing  an  increasingly  positive  convic- 
tion as  to  the  facts  of  redemption  and  his  personal 
relation  to  them.  And  let  him  also  take  the  vows 
of  church-memhership  with  gladness  and  confi- 
dence, for  '^to  you  is  the  promise  and  to  your  chil- 
dren." 


94 


Date  Due 

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